Foot Falls: Paradise Lost
by FoxxStarr
Summary: The fourth installment of the Foot Falls series. Tracey and Artemis find themselves in the world of Pacific Rim but boy do they get a surprise when they find themselves in someone elses bodies trying to save humanity from a brand new monster threat. Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! Welcome to the next chapter in the Foot Falls Series. If this is the first Foot Falls story you've started you might want to click on my profile and start with the first Foot Falls Story Foot Falls: The Legend Continues. If you've been following along thanks for reading this far and I hope you stick around!**

 _The Kaiju threat was gone, we won that war but nature abhors a vacuum. The Kaiju had been fighting off a secondary threat while they struggled to take our world as their own. A year after our last battle with the Kaiju the first wave attacked. We dubbed these creatures Raiju. More numerous, more beastial and as deadly as the Kaiju were they came through our volcanos, they attacked in numbers and spread like locusts. We lost that war, humanity consolidated everything we had left and began building space ships that would be connected into space stations orbiting what was left of the planet. We're almost done, there aren't many of us left; maybe a billion souls from every country, every walk of life. A handful of Jaegers were scraped together and piloted by anyone with even a little aptitude. We have one month before the last ship launches. We just need a little more time to save the human race. - From the Log of Marshal Hercules Hansen_

 _ ****_

 **Chapter One**

"You have done well; but your task it not yet done." The Voice that was All Voices intoned, the cacophony filled their ears and seemed to reverberate in their skulls while they hurtled through the antiseptic white room. Artemis tried to get a look at the room then yelped as they snapped to a halt.

She winced as they hung suspended in the room and the Voice spoke again. "More is required this time. You need more information."

Artemis and Tracey felt as if their skulls were splitting as information poured into their minds. Lives they had never lived, people they had never known and places they had never seen all filled their minds until it felt as though they would be subsumed by the torrent. Suddenly the white room melted away and they woke surrounded by screaming alarms and showers of sparks scattering from computer consoles. "Tabitha! Lyssa! Please respond! Come on you two!"

Tabitha blinked through the cracks in the helmet her head pounding while Lyssa groaned. "Tendo for fuck sake calm down!"

"Jesus Lyssa… we thought you two were dead, we lost all bio's. Looks like a sensor malfunction. Bring Lady Bird back home, the Raiju is down." Tendos voice came through the headsets.

"We're on our way Tendo." Lyssa replied and shut off the comm before she paused.

"Tabitha, you ok?" She asked looking at her drift partner and best friend.

The name didn't sound right to Tabitha, as if it were hers but not really. Heart pounding and eyes wide with wild panic, Tabitha's head was spinning and the throbbing headache wasn't helping the situation by any means. She was confused, which contributed to her panic. One moment she was asleep in Legolas's arms in Middle Earth and the next second she was whisked away to the white room, given new instructions, and then dispatched into another hostile environment without even being able to say goodbye to him. The strobe lights flashed brightly and the alarms were causing her adrenaline to pulse through her veins.

She wasn't quiet coping well with this new situation and after hearing that the Raiju they had just killed wasn't getting up again, her breathing became erratic and uneven. Tabitha felt like she was on autopilot as she helped her neural-linked partner turned their Jaeger and walked back toward their base. Over the comm-link she had recognize Tendo's voice from one of their favorite movies 'Pacific Rim' and realized their situation just got a lot more dangerous and a lot more challenging.

"Okay?... Okay?!" She breathed, looking over at Lyssa. "Are you okay with this?! I feel like I'm going to be sick again! My head feels like it's a melon that's been ridden over by a stampede of horses and trying to keep ourselves alive in this world and we DO have to stay alive if we expect to find a way back to our men."

She looked down at the massive machine that housed them and down at the metal suit that she and Lyssa wore while piloting the Jaeger. Slowly she got her breathing under control and her heart beat returned to normal and pushed a few buttons to turn off the alarms, but unfortunately she wasn't able to turn off the flashing red and yellow lights, that didn't bother her as much as the alarms. With the new information floating around in her head, Tabitha shook her head, completely baffled at how she knew to hit which buttons and how to read the monitors that showed them the functions of the Jaeger and all it's crucial elements of it.

"This is so strange." She started, making sure their comm-links were silent before continuing, they could hear the command center, but they couldn't hear them in return. "Artemis these aren't our lives we're living here in this world. Usually we are ourselves, we don't jump into someone else's lives, so I want to know what happened to the real Lyssa and Tabitha... Are you alright? Because I need something for my head, I don't think I'm ever going to get used to jumping between worlds without vomiting every time, how do you hold it all in?"

Artemis flipped a few switches and made sure no one could overhear them. "I think Lyssa and Tabitha died. You heard Tendo right? All the bio's went flat, I think the Voice dumped us in their bodies with everything they know so we CAN survive here. Once we get out of the Jaeger we can compare notes on the history and figure out why we're even here."

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. "Fuck I've got the mother of all migraines."

"I'll take an extra large Tylenol and surprisingly a tall bottle of water." Tabitha answered, laughed softly and shaking her head. "Not really comforting that they are dead and we're here, but hey with what we know we might just survive."

A smile came to her lips, despite the burning sensation she was feeling in all her limbs from operating the Jaeger.

"Did you hear what Tendo said? He said 'Lady Bird'. I think I can guess the emblem on our Jaeger's chest piece and I bet it looks bitchin'!"

Artemis gave a short laugh." I'm turning the comms back on. Let's get this bitch parked."

She flipped the comms back on and began the docking procedure, when they finally left the cockpit they caught sight of themselves in a reflective sheet of metal. Tabitha was tall, blond and looked a little like a valkyrie. Lyssa was tiny, maybe five foot three with short dark hair that curled wildly around her face with dark eyes. They looked like opposites but it was clear they worked well together even before Artemis and Tracey took over their bodies. Artemis's attention was diverted by a shout from across the massive room. "Lyssa. What the fuck was that?"

She saw Marshal Hercules Hansen striding across the bay face angry and she scowled as Lyssa's memories asserted themselves. "That was a fucking Raiju ambush Marshal. You think we planned that shit?"

He stopped in front of them and glared down at her, she glared up at him matching his attitude. Tracey realized that she as Tabitha was the peacemaker. Well now was a good a time as any to step into her new role and new life and Tracey did just that, placing her hand on Lyssa's shoulder and applied a little force. This was a little bit more difficult than she thought seeing as they were still wearing their inter-phasing suits so she had to add a little bit of a bodily push with her hips to dislodge her steadfast pose.

"With all due respect Marshal Hansen..." Tabitha started, tucking her helmet under her arm and drawing the Marshal's focus to her. "We eliminated the threat, came back in one piece, and Lady Bird doesn't seem to need much maintenance this time... We'll even work on the repairs ourselves."

Peacemaker, this was a role she had back in their world and she gained a lot of insight and gave good advice when a problem was brought to her attention. She liked helping people, it made her feel good inside. "There wasn't much else we could do at the time, Sir."

He sighed and rubbed his chin, Lyssa stepped back her eyes still angry but she'd subsided. "You two aren't doing any work on that machine, you two are getting a meal and getting an hour of zero G training."

Lyssa groaned. "Oh come on Marshal, I puke every time I'm in the damned box."

"Then maybe you should wait until after to eat." He replied shortly.

"Speaking of which..." She started before she started swaying on her feet.

Tabitha felt a lump start to form in her throat and she shook her head at Lyssa, moving her hand over her throat to cut her off before she said something else that could possibly get them in deeper trouble. She suddenly felt dizzy and the world started spinning outside of her control and she grabbed Lyssa's arm for support before she upturned her helmet and wretched violently into it. Tabitha coughed and gagged many times before wiping her mouth and taking several breaths.

"By your leave Marshal Hansen." She grumbled, giving him a salute. "This just isn't my day... Lyssa, shut your trap and move your ass. Let's just get our Tylenol and get this over with. Neither of us is well enough to put up with anymore of your crap tonight and I have to clean out my helmet before our next drop."

Lyssa made a face before slinging Tabitha's arm over her face. "Jesus Tabby that nasty." She gave Hansen a half assed salute and started walking towards the showers.

Marshal Hansen watched them go and swore under his breath, if they weren't the best he'd have sent them up in the very next shuttle.

When they got to the showers Lyssa set Tabitha down on a bench then took her helmet and dumped the contents into a toilet and flushed then walked to a shower stall and ran the water rinsing the interior. Tabitha groaned, her head in between her hands with her elbows resting on her knees. Her blonde hair fell around her hands in a shimmering curtain and she coughed again, trying to shut out the painful throb of her head. Pushing her hair out of her face and letting out a sigh, she got up and sauntered over to the sink to splash cold water on her face. The droplets of water chilled her skin and made her wake up, even lessening her headache but a little. She grabbed some paper towels and dried her face before taking back her helmet from Lyssa and drying it out as well.

"Sorry Lyssa. I'm never going to get use to this shifting crap, I know it." She said, spitting into the sink and rinsing it out with some more water. "You know Marshal Hansen said an hour in Zero Grav, but he didn't specify when we had to take our punishment."

This statement was accompanied with a smirk from her and a light giggle as well. Lyssa grinned then stopped and stared at herself in the mirror. "We need to remember who we really are Tracey. Call me Lyssa in public but in private we need to remember to call each other by our true names or we'll lose ourselves. The memories of Tabitha and Lyssa are as real as our own and it would be so easy to lose ourselves."

Tabitha's bright blue eyes looked at her own reflection and she nodded in agreement, poking her own cheek and watching her reflection do the same.

"I couldn't agree with you Artemis." She said quietly. "I've done that once and we can't afford to let it happen again. There's just too many important memories and information to make room for now, but we'll organize it to the best of our abilities and hopefully figure out why we're here."

Tucking her helmet under her arm again, Tabitha took a deep breath and scratched the back of her head before smiling at Artemis.

"Let's get out of here. We need out of these suits and some grub, if we can avoid pissing of the Marshal again for a while, I think we'll be fine." She said with a smile. "Perhaps taking out some of your attitude in the gym will help you relax a little... we'll do the Zero G later. But Tylenol and grub now."

Artemis grinned and headed towards the locker room. "Let's get out of the suits. I have tylenol in my locker."

When they got to the locker room they passed a handful of other pilots who jeered and teased. Lyssa responded in kind and opened her locker letting out a relieved breath seeing the satchels hanging on a hook. "Looks like we get to keep our toys." She said quietly and dug around in her bag until she found the painkillers and shook a few out for Tabitha grabbing a bottle of water from the shelf.

"For your dining pleasure we have a vintage 2022 tylenol gelcap with the finest tap water Nestle can provide." She swallowed a few pills herself and unzipped her suit.

"Much obliged my sweet." Tabitha said with a slight bow of her head as she accepted the Tylenol and water. "Bottoms up."

Cracking her seal on her bottle of water, she brought it to her lips and downed half of it in one go. She let out a relieved sigh and waved away the other pilots' remarks and fake gags, a jab at her antics on the dispatch floor before she and Lyssa hit the lockers. Tabitha mocked them in return with a sarcastic laugh and rolled her eyes at them, dialing the knob on her locker with the correct combination before pulling down on the latch and opening the door. With a nod of her head the metallic suit came off, leaving her in their under armor which she was grateful for having. She took a spare set of clothes from her duffel bag and grabbed her towel, wash cloth, and shampoo and conditioner bottles before closing the locker door closed and locking it again.

"Hot shower, plus food, means happy belly... Zero Grav in the morning I think, coming Lyssa?" She asked, throwing her towel over her shoulder.

Lyssa shook her head. "I'm gonna grab some food and see what we've been dumped into."

"Okay, I'll be quick and grab some food before meeting up with you in our room then. Fill me in when I get there." She said, turning on her heel and headed for the showers.

There were split showers for all the pilots, a side for the men and a side for the women. This made sure that there wasn't any funny business happening in the showers between the pilots and it kept everything easy. Gray tiles lined the walls from the ceiling to the floors. There were air vents to allow the steam from the showers to escape and drains in the floor that would take the used water and filter it through the piped to a station that would clean it up so it could be used again. Several stalls lined the walls, giving the pilots some privacy to take care of their business and she chose one in the middle, hanging her towel on the hook on the outside of the stall door.

"I need this so bad." She mused, stripping down to her skivvies and hanging her under armor on the second hook outside the door.

Turning on the hot water, it streamed over her body and relieved the soreness from her muscles. She stood a moment more before lathering up her hair and body with soap and washing her body thoroughly. Rinsing off quickly she turned off the water and grabbed her towel, drying off quickly and wrapping the towel around her body. Tabitha stopped and looked down at her side, noticing some strange markings on her pale skin. Tracing her fingers over the skin, she raised an eyebrow at the scars and had to wonder how she got them. She pulled on fresh undergarments and socks before pulling a pair of hip-hugger jeans and a loose shirt with flowy sleeves and a corded belt for her belt loops. Lastly she pulled on her black zip up boots and draped her towel over her head before going back to the locker room and depositing all her gear into her locker. Tabitha hung up her towel and ran a brush through her blonde hair and letting it fall free.

Consulting Tabitha's memories helped her to find the mess hall and from there she grabbed some meatloaf, some mixed greens, a side of potatoes and a yogurt parfait. A few of the other pilots hailed her with waves and laughter and Tabitha returned their greetings with a smile and a nod of her head before leaving and going to her room, which she shared with Lyssa. Their quarters seemed like a big metal box in a long hallway of metal boxes that housed them and the other pilots. Inside there was a set of bunk beds, a simple wooden writing desk with a table lamp, a laptop computer for the occupant to use. This is where Tabitha found Lyssa and she shut the door behind her so they couldn't be overheard.

"So what's the scoop on our new lives Artemis?"

Artemis was scribbling in her leather bound journal but stopped when Tracey came in. "So it looks like about a year after they shut the portal letting the Kaiju in another species of creature that they dubbed the Raiju started literally erupting out of the volcanoes all over the world. Hawaii is literally a smoking crater now. They come a dozen at a time and just decimate. It looks like the best humanity can do is to jump ship and hope for the best so everyone is evacuating to space stations and one barely functional Lunar base in the Sea of Tranquility. We're the vanguard, in about 1 month the last refuges will be loaded onto the last shuttle and the Earth belongs to the Raiju."

She paused and tapped her pen. "Our Jaeger is an experimental model. They needed all the Nuclear fuel rods they could get to power the stations and the Lunar Base so they built Lady Bird with a reactor that runs on a really rare mineral that can only be found in large enough quantities in the bodies of Kaiju and Raiju and guess who is the only person who can get the mineral?"

"Oh, oh, oh! I know this one! Pick me, pick me!" Tracey replied, raising her hand and waving it in the air as it she was trying to get the teacher's attention so she could be called on. "It's Hell Boy! I mean Hannibal Chow!"

She had to giggle a little and plopped herself onto the edge of the bottom bunk, her food tray in her lap and munching on her dinner wolfishly. Artemis laughed softly and nodded. "Yeah. Hannibal Chow and he refuses to talk to anyone but us. Apparently what's left of the government tried to force him to give them everything he had 'for the cause' but he's a wily one and has turned it around and now he has a private pod on the Lunar Base and the only people richer than him and you and me." She pulled out a bank book and tossed it to Tracey where it fell open and showed an obscene number of zeros. "We, as in Tabitha and Lyssa, negotiated a really pretty paycheck to be part of an experimental Jaeger design and crew. They implanted chips in our spines to enhance the performance of the Jaeger but it came with some significant risk and a really significant paycheck."

Tracey nearly choked on her food as she picked up the book from the bed and thumbed through the pages. She was looking at all the deposits and how they were always a significant numbers, more than she thought she would make in her lifetime. It was almost a case of did she even want to go back to their world! They could retire here and now if they chose to, they would be living in the lap of luxury without a care in the world. But this wasn't their world and they had loved ones they were trying to get back to.

"That is a pretty penny to be sure." She replied, handing the notebook back to Artemis and continued eating. "What was the risk, other than us dying?"

"Total paralysis, insanity, permanent nerve damage, untreatable Nerve Pain Disorders. Palsy, the list goes on. It's totally cutting edge tech under really unfavorable circumstances with zero medical testing." Artemis leaned back in her seat and ran a hand through her dark curls. "And that's not all. We have a pod on the Lunar Base if we survive."

Tracey couldn't help but giggle a little after swallowing her food.

"Totally everything we can live without... I wish there were a few medications and side effects that make us feel more sexy." She said with a laugh while pushing away her empty plate and leaning back on the bed. "Never really saw myself living in space... kind of reminds me of Titan A.E. But hey, it could be fun, I wonder if that's what my nightmare meant by saving reality. Though it still has me thinking why reality needs to be fixed..."

She shrugged her shoulders and dropped onto her back on the mattress, drooping her arm over her eyes and letting out a tired sigh. Her other hand rested on her stomach and instantly she started thinking about Legolas, she couldn't help it and started to wonder what he was doing.

"If it's not obvious, I claim this bunk." She mumbled, a smile gracing her lips. "Tomorrow I'd like to see our Jaeger, tinker with it Lady Bird, hit the gym a little and see what this place looks like with my own eyes."

Artemis dropped a piece of paper on her face. "Sorry kiddo. Tomorrow we're out on maneuvers and we still have to go do our zero G training."

Tracey groaned, grabbed the paper from her face and looked at it, recognizing it to be their schedule. Running a hand over her face and then rubbing her eyes, she let out a breath and nodded.

"Then I suggest the Zero Grav in the morning so we don't hurl and there shouldn't be too many people, then eat breakfast so we can digest a little and after an hour or so do maneuvers. What do you think?"

"I think it's a good idea." Artemis replied with a grin and climbed up onto the top bunk then she laughed. "I feel like we got dropped in an anime. Giant mechs, world ending, mysterious tech. This is kinda awesome."

A soft laugh escaped from Tracey as she sat up and took her food tray to the desk and neatly stacked everything together so they could take them to the mess hall in the morning.

"I'd have to agree with you there my dear." She replied, losing her boots, pants and shirt and pulling on baggy pants and a tank top. "Sleep now and work in the morning."

Artemis turned off the light and curled up under her blanket. 'What have we gotten ourselves into?' She wondered as she drifted off.


	2. Chapter 2

She woke to the scream of the alarm clock and groaned. "5am is not a time of day it's a punishment." She grumbled and managed to get out of bed without falling.

Tracey jumped awake with a start, looking around the room as she tried to get her bearings again and recognize something about their surroundings that was familiar to her. She normally did this back in their world when she had to get up at a certain time for work. Usually it was at seven am when her phone goes off and she'd wake up as if the bed was on fire and roll over to turn off her phone before getting up instantly to get dressed, start the tea pot for her only drink throughout the day and then leave the house without eating breakfast. Right now was no different.

"Gah boogieman!" She breathed, coughing and rubbing the sleep from her eyes before groaning. "Too early... must sleep."

Unfortunately now she was up and as apart of her programming, Tracey had to get up and start doing something productive. In this case it will be getting dressed and preparing to start the day. She knew she wasn't going to be getting back to sleep and pushed back the covers. Oozing off the mattress, she grabbed the clothes she had changed into after she got out of her shower the night before and pulled them on after shedding her sleeping attire. Making her bed presentable, even though it wasn't necessary, Tracey brushed out her hair and put it up in a ponytail so it would stay out of her face and there was less of a risk of her or Artemis hurling into their own hair.

"Hopefully this time we'll have stomachs of steel and can get through Zero Grav without incident."

Artemis groaned and pulled a button up shirt on over a tanktop and shoved her feet into boots mechanically. She hated mornings with a passion and the idea of zero gravity made her want to do something violent. She trailed after Tracey… no… Tabitha, eyes still bleary her thick curly hair barely held out of her face with an elastic hair tie. "Tabby, how are you always so damned cheerful in the morning?"

"Just add air." Tabitha replied, rubbing her eyes free of sleep and taking up their food trays to take them back to the mess hall.

Giving the assistant cooks a lazy good morning wave, she had to steer Lyssa forward to detour toward the Zero G chamber so they could climb into the machine and get their punishment over with. She was looking around at everything they passed, despite having Tabitha's memories and knowledge, she wanted to see all this with her own eyes and it was an eye opener. Muttering and pointing out a few things to a groggy Lyssa, it didn't take them but a few moments to cross the Jaeger floor where the massive machines were being worked on and their technology and upkeep was a round the clock deal. Tabitha pushed open the door and was greeted by Marshal Hansen, a cup of coffee in his hand and a stoic expression on his face as he looked at them.

'I could almost swear he does this to us because he knows Lyssa isn't a morning person.' She mused to herself, shaking her head.

They changed into their zero G suits and picked up the toolboxes Hansen had left by the door. When they stepped into the chamber he clicked on the intercom. "You two will be repairing a Jaeger leg in the chamber today. It's important that you guys can do the zero grav repairs since the Jaegers are going up with us."

"Yes Sir." Tabitha replied, clicking her booted heels together and giving him a salute before stepping into the inner chamber so they could get started.

There was a small canister that she clipped onto her tool belt and then another to Lyssa's belt. These canisters were for their benefit, just in case their stomachs got queasy. Stretching upward and out, rolling her neck and popped a few bones, Tabitha approached the scattered parts around the chamber and then looked at Marshal Hansen. She gave him a nod and it was the signal to show that she was ready to start. The other scientists and engineers nodded in return and did their thing and instantly the gravity was disengaged and Tabitha felt her hair starting to levitate. She looked around as the parts started to float and she took off as well. Keeping her movements and forceful pushes on the walls to a minimum, Tabitha couldn't help but let out a soft laugh as she was propelled off the floor, walls, and ceiling to get the pieces she needed and start the repairs.

"The sooner we get started Lyssa the sooner we can leave." She said, gliding toward the Jaeger leg they were suppose to be working on and drawing upon the real Tabitha's memories and knowledge so she could do the job right.

Lyssa made a face but focused on the task at hand, in order to keep from vomiting she focused solely on the parts in front of her and in her hands. Tabitha was enjoying the zero gravity more than Lyssa though. It reminded her of having wings in Middle Earth. Oh to have her wings back now, but it was okay because this was fun too and if she did have her wings, they would get asked too many questions and they didn't need that. Plus her wings wouldn't have helped keep her balanced here as they would interfere with keeping her steady and would bounce her all around the chamber.

"This isn't too bad this time." She said quietly, tightening a few bolts here and there and attached valves where they were needed. "I think as we get closer to the end we should just take the last five minutes or so and goof around."

Lyssa swallowed convulsively. "You can goof off, I am going to attempt to keep last night's dinner where it belongs."

Tabitha laughed and continued to work. Despite only been given an hour to work on the leg, with their knowledge Tabitha and Lyssa were able to get a lot of mechanical work done. It came together rather slowly, but it started to look like a massive leg. Quickly checking over their work and running through several routine issues, Tabitha occasionally grabbed a piece of metal as they floated passed her field of vision and connected it to the leg. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't even realize that their hour was just about up and just in the nick of time because her stomach gave a rumble.

"Alright that's time!" She said, turning her drill gun off and clicking it to her belt again. "Come on Lyssa, time for a spot of breakfast."

Lyssa let out a sigh of relief and put her tools in the box then pushed off towards the door. They waited until the gravity pump whirred and gravity returned to normal before she darted out dropping the box in it spot on the floor. She leaned over a trash can and retched into the container. "Oh Lyssa." Tabitha said, shaking her head and rubbing her back in small circles and then she looked up to Marshal Hansen. "There are times I think you do this on purpose Marshal."

She allowed her to finish emptying her stomach before going to get her some water from the small fridge in the scientist and engineer's break room right there and grabbed a towel on her way back. She opened to water and dampened the towel so Lyssa could wipe her face and clean her mouth.

"I wonder if you're ever going to get used to that. If we have that reserved pod in space, we had better."

"The pod has Gravity." Lyssa grumbled and straightened, she tried for a smile. "Besides, this is helping me keep my girlish figure."

Tabitha couldn't help but laugh too and shake her head again. Changing out of their gravity suits and hanging up her tool kit, Tabitha looped her arm with Lyssa's and gave them all a little wave before leaving and going to the mess hall. This time they were actually going for the food and she started walking through the line with a new food tray. She pulled a plate on her tray and piled on some scrambled eggs, bacon, half a grapefruit, sugar, orange juice and eating utensils. Tabitha had to make sure Lyssa was following behind her before she continued to move up the line.

"Come on Lyssa." She encouraged, handing her a tray and plate too. "It looks like they have tea up ahead, perhaps you can mix some peppermint in it to settle your stomach a little."

Artemis filled her plate as well and happily mixed a cup of tea before following Tabbitha to a table. She was working her way through scrambled eggs when a shadow loomed over them. A large man in a pilot's jacket leered at them and leaned in towards Tabitha. "So when are you gonna ditch Lyssy the Lezzy here and take me up on my offer?" He said seductively.

Lyssa snorted. "Original Max, did you kill your last two braincells coming up with that?"

As Tabitha brought her forkful of eggs to her mouth, she watched as they fell back to her plate and then sighed. She rolled her eyes and looked up at Max and raised an eyebrow at him, her facial features reading her contempt for the man. It wasn't that he wasn't good looking, but his personality was all wrong and he was snarky and full of himself.

"Well I just lost my appetite. I don't know how many times I have to tell you Max so I'll tell you one more time... I'll say it slowly so even your limited IQ can understand me. You're. Not. My. Type." She said, emphasizing her words and standing up to leave. "I'm not interested so let it go and if you ever insult Lyssa in my hearing I'll kick your ass."

He scowled at her and his handsome face wasn't so handsome anymore. "You know you're not cute enough to be this much of a fucking bitch."

Lyssa propped her chin in one hand and raised an eyebrow. "Funny, I was going to say the same about you?"

"You say bitch as if it's a bad thing." Tabitha retorted with a smirk, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder. "I'll take it as a compliment and if it took you this long to figure it out that you're not getting into my pants then perhaps you're not the brightest pilot here. Most guys would get the hit after the first put down."

She threw her leg over the bench and leaned over to pick up her tray to scrape the scraps of food from her plates and throw away her trash when Max made a bold move without thinking and slapped her on the butt. Everything that followed happened quite quickly and no one could have stopped the result. As soon as she felt his hand on her person, Tabitha dropped her tray back on the table with a loud clatter and grabbed his wrist. She drove her clenched fist hard into his diaphragm, depriving him of oxygen and making him gasp for a couple of minutes. This allowed her to bring his arm around behind his back, where she kicked the back of his knee, making him collapse face first into the floor. The few people in the mess hall stood up to get a better view of the situation that was playing out in the room and started to whisper to their neighbors until their jeers echoed around the huge room. Tabitha didn't pay attention to them, but instead focused her anger on the gasping man in her clutches. She leaned in real close to him, speaking softly and menacingly in his ear so he wouldn't miss anything she said.

"If you touch me again I will break your arm!"

Lyssa leaned down and inspected the armlock. "Push a little to the right honey. You're gonna dislocate his arm if you keep holding him there and he has maneuvers at thirteen hundred."

She sounded highly amused and leaned a little closer to his face. "Oh by the way Max, Lyssy the Lezzy had a date with your co-pilot the other night so unless Johns is a girl…" She let the implications sink in.

Tabitha let out a low, beastly of a growl and applied pressure against Max's back to push herself upright and snagged up her tray again. Using her napkin to clean up the mess on the table that the tray made when she had to let it drop onto the table, she walked to the ring of onlookers and they moved aside to let her and Lyssa pass unhindered.

"Relentless bastard." She muttered under her breath and threw away her trash and placed everything else she placed in a bin meant for dirty dishes. "Never gives up... I swear if he put that much focus into his training and drops than he does in trying to pick up chicks, his scores might be higher."

The rest of her comments were in a different language completely and she could have sworn it was Elvish. This made her blink in realization that she was and that made her look at Lyssa and shake her head. It must have been the Bond that she still shared with Legolas and that made her smile a bit.

Lyssa smiled and patted her on the back. "Come on you, we have to go meet Tendo and get the maintenance update on Lady Bird and we can start the flight checks."

Tabitha looped her arm with Lyssa and stepped out like she meant to kick more butt and keep her progressive flow moving forward. It took them a few minutes to weave in and out of groups of people as well as people moving machinery, large parts and supplies all over the base. They headed to the command center above the War Clock to see Tendo and were greeted warmly by a few of the workers there and prepared themselves for the maintenance check.

"I want us to go over Lady Bird personally before we do any maneuvers." Tabitha said from the side of her mouth while waiting for Tendo to finish his work and spare them some of his attention.

Lyssa nodded. "I know better than to argue with you on this you little control freak." She smiled and lounged against the wall her eyes taking in the various screens with schedule, statistics and warnings lighting up in bold neon colors.

Tabitha crossed her arms under her chest and shifted her weight to her left leg and drummed her fingers on her arm, slowly becoming impatient with the wait. But before she could protest that their time was just as important as his, Tendo turned around and smiled at them both good-naturedly. He was about average height and build and had short brown hair for his round face. Tendo was well dressed in a pair of jeans, a button up shirt and a tie, he always carried a clipboard or some folders that housed important papers.

"Good morning Tabby-cat and Lyssa." He said with a smile and gave them each a fist bump before getting straight to business. "I don't know how you ladies do it, but I'm always impressed with the two of you."

Lyssa smirked and straightened up. We have the devil's own luck." She replied. "How's our baby?"

Tendo smirked a little and shook his head, looking down at his charts on his clipboard and flipping some papers up so he could scan over them.

"Well we ran some diagnostics and everything seems to be in order. There's only a few minor repairs that need to be made on the shell of your Jaeger and on the inside we're repairing the bio malfunctions and then we'll do a complete system wide scan again to make sure everything is up to specs again." He replied, shaking his head again. "I don't mind telling you that you both had us worried when your bio readings went flat. We thought you were dead for sure."

"Aw sorry Tendo, we didn't mean to scare you." Tabitha replied, patting his arm gently. "In all honesty we don't know what happened either."

Lyssa grinned and slung an arm around the taller mans waist. "Maybe you should do a diagnostic on us, we could be...The Undead!" She gave a fake maniacal laugh.

Tendo raised an eyebrow at her and laughed a little sarcastically before poking her in the side with his finger. Tabitha rubbed her temples and shook her head.

"That's not even something I like to think about and you know it Lyssa." She said, crossing her arms under her chest again. "You know I hate zombies and horror movies."

"I don't blame you Tabby-cat." Tendo agreed before turning back to the monitors and waving his hand over them. "It's not like I don't have enough to do here, but I might have to in order to figure out why you two insist on vomiting in our equipment... Tabitha, and after every time you go to the Zero Grav chamber to play workshop... Lyssa."

"If we were mean to be weightless God would have made us out of styrofoam." Lyssa retorted and leaned in pulling up the charts on Lady Bird. "I feel like my stomach is trying to float up through my mouth."

Tendo didn't let her take the clipboard from him, but didn't object to her looking over the paperwork either. He did have a lot of responsibilities in the control room and they had to the respect that. Tabitha tapped her chin in thought and watched the people below them, moving around like ants shifting cargo and going about their business in an orderly fashion.

"So all in all, Lady Bird is functional, she needs a system inspection so we'll do that and then we'll have our maneuvers." She stated matter of factually. "Is that all you needed to tell us Tendo?"

"Not quite. Your Supplier is demanding an audience." Tendo made a face.

A smirk crossed over Tabitha's lips and she gave a short laugh, making Tendo look at her in confusion as to why she found his statement funny.

"Don't make that face Tendo, he's supplying us with a valuable service and since the government has been less than helpful with their resources, we had to go to someone who would be willing to play nice." She retorted, pushing some stray hairs from her face. "Speaking of 'playing nice' I'm going to give you a heads up and I will talk to Marshal Hansen later today, but Max is getting a little more 'hands on' and I won't hesitate to break his arm this time. We might need to find a replacement pilot for him soon if he doesn't shape up."

Tendo groaned "Jesus don't kill him. He really is a good pilot. We'll switch him to a different unit ok?"

"All I ask is that he keeps his hands to himself, but I think it would be for the best." Tabitha said with a shrug and a shake of her head. "Well I guess we'll have to change around our plans then. Lyssa what do you think about meeting up with Mr. Chow first, then inspect Lady Bird and finally do our work? That way it'll give our mechanics a little more time to work on our Lady."

Lyssa shrugged. "I'm ok with meeting Hannibal."

She looked over at Tendo. "Are we meeting him at his usual spot?"

He nodded. "Yeah, don't take too long though we need Lady Bird patrolling the Launch Site today and for the next few weeks."

"Yeah, yeah you really shouldn't worry so much Tendo, it will give you worry lines and the ladies will get turned off by those." Tabitha said, giving his cheek a quick kiss and him a wink before heading for the front door. "Okay Lyssa, we have our orders, let's head out while the getting is good."

She took hold of Lyssa's wrist and led her out from the control room and down to the bay below. The first stop on their trip was to the supply Sergeant Digger to commission their ride into the city and then they would inspect their ride so they couldn't be punished for any dents and dings. Meeting up with Sargent Digger, Tabitha took up the clipboard he handed her and started to inspect a jeep nearest Lyssa and started her check list.

"Thank you Sergeant, I won't draw this out any longer than I have to." She said with a smile and clicked her pen to start. "Get ready to buckle up Lyssa."

The whole process took about ten minutes in all and after signing off on the paperwork, Digger tossed her the keys and she started up the jeep, buckling her seatbelt and honking the horn a bit to get people to move a little faster out of her path.

Lyssa propped a booted foot up on the dashboard and pulled a pack of gum out of her pocket stuffing a piece in her mouth. "So here's what I don't get…"She said her arms crossed over her chest. "There's no wrong to right here, Mako and Raleigh are together, the Kaiju were defeated… what's the end goal here?"

"Saving the human race I guess." Tabitha answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "Not that I think it's really worth saving at this point seeing as this earth is broken and we seem to be getting one disaster after another."

She wasn't wrong. The Kaiju had wrecked havoc on their world and now that the volcanoes all over the world had erupted and perfumed toxic fumes and unleashed Raiju on the human race, was there much of the earth left to save? In their haste for survival, the humans were taking to space and Tabitha thought it was only a matter of time before they screwed that area up too or got caught up there in a war with another alien race. With limited resources up there and not much of an opportunity to recover things from the surface, she didn't know how long the human race would actually survive.

"There may be no survival this time, but we're human and we're stubborn so we're going to try to go against the odds."

Lyssa sighed and blew a gum bubble. "So we get them on the last shuttle up. We can do that."

"That might be easier said than done this time and there's really no knowing until we go over all the information we can get our hands on." Tabitha answered, opening the windows and letting in the fresh, warm air from outside. "Not that I'm really doing this for Max's benefit, but we wouldn't have been sent to this world if there wasn't something to fix. We just haven't figured out why we're here yet, but in the meantime we'll kick major monster ass and look good doing it."

She let out a whooping laugh and continued to drive into town and within a little under half an hour, they had entered the city and were driving around to find a parking spot in Hannibal Chow's private parking lot. It never ceased to amaze Tabitha how important his services were for their line of work and it made her feel good to be one of the two people he would actually do business with. When they finally parked and got out Lyssa hooked her thumbs into her belt looking at Hannibals home and wrinkled her nose at the ostentatious facade. "All his taste is in the tongues of his shoes" She muttered and motioned to the fire engine red door frames with gold doors.

"To each their own my dear, to each their own." Tabitha laughed, shaking her head. "Yeah I wouldn't have gone this way, but he does like to be showy and that's what works for him. Let's just see what he wants and then get back to base."

Lyssa blew another bubble and rang the bell. The door was opened by a dumpy little man with a comb over that did nothing to hide his balding head. The way he leered at Lyssa made her pop the bubble with a snap. "Take us to your boss while you still have eyes in your head you little creep."

"Always the delicate speaker aren't you Lyssa, it's a wonder you've made it this far in your career with a mouth like yours." Tabitha said with a cheeky grin. "But hey, it's gotten us what we needed on many occasions so I can't fault you for it."

Upon entering the house, the little man closed the door behind them and took up his place ahead of them. He gave them a short bow and gestured for them to follow him, which they did. It never ceased to impress Tabitha just how much stuff Hannibal Chow had acquired with his Kaiju dealings. He had tapestries depicting the Kaiju, the various Jaegers, his chosen few Pilots that were his favorites and other items that were priceless. As they passed by the last tapestry, Tabitha couldn't help but smile at it. The stitching on it was silk the colors were bright in some places and metallic in others, but the picture itself was clear in the light that shone on it from above. The tapestry was theirs, it was of her and Lyssa, their Jaeger 'Lady Bird' in all her curved metal stood behind them in all her glory.

"God I love that tapestry, they got the color of your eyes perfect." She laughed quietly, looking ahead as they drew closer to the large doors that would lead them to Hannibal Chow.

Lyssa smirked and flung the double doors open and strode in like she owned the place or was at least thinking of leasing it. Hannibal was standing in front of his desk and grinned seeing them. "My favorite Ladies. Glad you could make it."

Lyssa stopped in front of him her hip cocked one hand resting on it as she looked him over, he was wearing a silk suit in an alligator skin print with a deep money green shirt sans tie. His shoes were his usual loafers with the overlapping metal plates on the toes that made a chiming noise when he walked. "Well how can we say no Chow, you keep our Lady fueled."

"The resources you have at your disposal are highly sought after and we know there's no one else who can satisfy our needs like you can." Tabitha said, blinking her eyes slowly and smiled deviously. "You provide us with a service we couldn't hope to get anywhere else... What do you have for us today? I think we might need something for our Lady soon but we can discuss that at a later time."

She took a glass from the tray that was offered to her by a servant and raised it in standing to him. "To your good health and our continued business dealings."

He lifted a glass in return and drank. "You know Tabitha, I like you, you're civilized, a classy dame." He waved at Lyssa cup still in hand. "And you keep our wild card in the straight and narrow."

Lyssa snorted and swallowed her drink in one go, Hannibal shook his head but he set his glass down and picked up a file folder. "We need to settle our account before I head to the Launchpad." He tapped the file on the table a couple of times.

"Aw thank you Hannibal, you're too kind." Tabitha acknowledged with a nod and another smile. "Then let us proceed, we'll even throw in a little extra for the remaining fuel you can supply us with for our Jaeger. Hopefully we and the other Pilots can rid this world of the Raiju."

Finishing her drink quickly, Tabitha stepped to the desk and took the manilla folder. She flipped through the spreadsheets, analyzing the inventory and sifting through many things that she personally didn't understand, but Lyssa did. It helped a lot and she soon pulled the page she was looking for and crossed the floor to Lyssa, letting her see their bill. Needless to say, though it was high she wasn't blinking and her facial features were smooth and expressionless. Lyssa read over the itemized sheet and snorted. "Chow, you are not billing us for the drinks you offer us. And if you think Marshal Hansen is going to authorize payment on twenty five Raiju Spleens you are dense. The Spleen is worthless and Hansen knows it."

Hannibal frowned. "How would he know that?"

"I told him dummy." Lyssa replied and walked to the desk grabbing a red pen and crossing out a handful of items then circled one near the bottom. "What the hell is this discharge for?"

He leaned in. "Your discount for escorting me to the Launch Pad."

"And when did we agree to that?" Lyssa asked propping a hand on her hip.

"I agreed to that little request Lyssa." Tabitha said, speaking up and taking the papers and manilla folder from her to right the pages again. "After all it's the least we can do for Hannibal for his loyalty and dedication to our cause. But she is right Hannibal, this final payment will be coming from our own pockets so let's stick with the items that we actually need and save the bill fluffing for Marshal Hansen."

Tabitha put the folder back down on his desk, tilted her head to the side with a smile and blinked lazily at him. "I would really like to keep our dealings respectful and leave on good terms... besides we may need each other again."

He sighed regretfully but pulled out another sheet from the desk, this one was pared down to just the items Lyssa had left. "You can't blame me for trying."  
Ly

ssa patted his cheek and smiled sweetly. "Oh Hannibal, I can blame you for all sorts of things." She pulled out a wallet from inside her jacket and started counting out bills. "Just make sure the fuel rods for the Nuclear Jaegers and the Mineral for our Lady are on the next truck. We'll pick you up in three days."

Hannibal nodded and took the money. "I hate leaving all this behind but better the stuff than my life."

Tabitha nodded and cast her eyes around the room to see everything that it contained. He wasn't wrong, it really was a shame to leave all of this behind but there was a limit to the amount of things everyone could bring. She had suggested putting everything into his private Kaiju bunker to keep it safe until matters were handled on earth, but it all might be in vain if the world went to hell.

"No we can't blame you, but I am feeling a little insulted that you would try anyway." Tabitha remarked shaking her head. "We've had such good dealings that I would hate to smear your good name, because we're such classy dames."

She gave a grin and twirled the ring of keys for their jeep around her finger and catching them in her grasp again. He chuckled and handed Tabitha a receipt for the transaction. "I am gonna miss you guys, maybe after we're all Moon Men maybe we can have a nice dinner together without it being a business transaction."

Lyssa hopped up to sit on the desk swinging her legs like a little girl and Hannibal laughed. "Scratch that, I'll have dinner with Tabby and drinks with Lyssa."

"It's a date then... I think you'll be a far better conversationalist than Max any day." Tabitha replied with a smile and pocketed the receipt in her pants pocket. "We'll shoot for the Moon in three days, but in the meantime take care Hannibal and we'll see you soon. No need to see us off, we know the way."

Motioning for Lyssa to follow her, Tabitha turned on her heel and strode confidently out the doors they had come through to enter the office and back up the hallway. The doorman opened the large, red door for them and bowed them through. Shading her hand from the sudden light, Tabitha stretched out in the sunlight and breathed in a fresh lungful of air before tossing the jeep keys up and catching them again.

"Now that business is concluded here, let's get back to base and give Lady Bird a once over before starting our maneuvers." She said, pulling out her cell phone and selecting Tendo's number on speed dial. "Hey Boss, mission accomplished here and we're returning to base. Oh, our shipment from Chow will be delivered in three days and Lyssa and I will be escorting him to the shuttle bay to the moon, it's a non-negotiable matter."

Hansen swore violently. "What did I tell you about making anymore deals with that snake?" His Australian accent was thick with annoyance.

"Aw Tendo baby, now I feel betrayed. You know how I feel about being put on speaker phone, especially when you're the one I wanted to talk to in the first place." Tabitha whined mockingly, wincing slightly when she heard Marshal Hansen on the phone too. "Sir with all due respect, we didn't have much of a choice and we did clean up the little misunderstanding about Raiju spleens for you."

Tabitha's facial expression was all smiles as she tried to remain professional and speak clearly, but on the inside she was really laughing fitfully. "In addition to our deals, Lyssa and I were able to acquire the rest of Hannibal's stash of Minerals for Lady Bird and the rest of the fuel rods for the other Jaegers, so really it's a win-win situation if we need his help later."

She could all but hear Marshal Hansen grinding his teeth, Tendo filled the tense silence. "I'll let the Supply Sergeant know about the incoming supplies. Those fuel rods are appreciated, we're running real low. Get back here, we have the diagnostic report to go over, we found something weird."

"Roger that base, we're proceeding for home as we speak." Tabitha acknowledged and hung up the phone to look at Lyssa. "Oh Marshal Hansen isn't happy with us but that's the norm now isn't it. Also Tendo said they found something weird with Lady Bird's diagnostic report, think they know?"

Tabitha didn't want to jump to any conclusions just yet, but she was slightly worried that they'd have to explain their unusual appearance in this world yet again. But she tried not to dwell on it while she climbed into the jeep, put on her seat belt and fired up the engine. Lyssa popped a gum bubble as she belted into her seat. "I doubt it. I think the sensors probably caught the transition but I don't think it would show us as being alien to this Universe."

Tabitha nodded at her explanation and applied her foot the the gas pedal, driving them out of Hannibal's house grounds and up the road.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! I just wanted to apologize for the weird Chapter Formats. It's been a bit weird breaking this one into** **manageable** **chunks. We might repeat a few** **sentences** **of the** **previous** **chapter for a bit so everyone can keep up. This chapter has some of our weird ass humor in it so I hope you enjoy! Reviews get good Karma and kitten kisses so please review!**

Tabitha didn't want to jump to any conclusions just yet, but she was slightly worried that they'd have to explain their unusual appearance in this world yet again. But she tried not to dwell on it while she climbed into the jeep, put on her seat belt and fired up the engine. Lyssa popped a gum bubble as she belted into her seat. "I doubt it. I think the sensors probably caught the transition but I don't think it would show us as being alien to this Universe."

Tabitha nodded at her explanation and applied her foot the the gas pedal, driving them out of Hannibal's house grounds and up the road. They passed several shops that the two of them had frequented before the Kaiju and Raiju had spoiled everything with their arrival. She would have loved to stop in them again before going back to Headquarters, but there wasn't enough time for that. They were needed elsewhere and it would be best to get back before Marshal Hansen flipped his shit and forced them to spend time in the Zero G chamber again. Tabitha didn't slow down until they got back to base and drove into the garage portion of the base. Sargent Digger looked up from his desk piled with papers and smiled, catching the keys to their jeep and handing Tabitha the final bit of paperwork she had to sign.

"Thank you kindly Sergeant." She replied, taking the clipboard, circling the jeep to inspect it and then signed off on the papers again and handing it back to him. "She's all cleared, let's go Lyssa! Move your butt."

Lyssa sauntered along behind Tabitha. "Slow your roll girl. If you hop to every time they bark they start expecting it. Better to remind them that they need us not the other way around." She spat her gum into a trash can and ran her hands through her hair though.

"Too true..." She agreed, letting out a sigh and putting her hands in her pockets.

Tabitha slowed her pace to match Lyssa's and took in the chaos that surrounded them. It looked like someone had kicked over an ant hill and all the little soldier ants race around to find out what was attacking them and kill it. Like the ants, people in a large variety of uniforms move around them going about their tasks. They all wore hardhats, carried tool belts or weapons, depending on their station and job skills. None of them bothered Lyssa and Tabitha as they sauntered almost lazily to the control tower and rode up the elevator. When the doors opened Tabitha greeted Tendo with a smile and a wave. "Alright we're here, let's get this party started."

Tendo gave them a half smile but he seemed distracted. He pulled up two screen with biometric information on them. The tag read Tabitha Kale on both. "Ok so the screen on the left is a week ago when you guys took down the two Swimmers." He motioned to the one on the right which showed a markedly different pattern. "And this is what the sensors read five minutes after you beat Big Daddy."

He pulled up Lyssa's charts and it was the same, he pulled up more scans. "Brain waves, Motor Function scans, hell even the Drift pattern changed. I've never seen anything like it. If I didn't know better I would swear these scans show two different people but that's not possible."

Lyssa took the opportunity while Tendo was looking at the screens to grip Tabitha's hand and shook her head. She stepped forward and looked at the scans "Didn't I read somewhere that the initial Jaeger tests showed altered brainwaves?"

"Yeah but we solved that problem, that's one of the reasons we implemented a two pilot system." Tendo replied.

"Then perhaps the resulted could have been altered because of the chips at the base of our skulls?" Tabitha asked, tapping her chin thoughtfully with the hand Lyssa hadn't clamped down on. "It could be considered a side effect of some sort, I mean this technology was experimental and had a slim chance of being successful at best."

The answer she had provided could have been considered a reasonable one and she shrugged nonetheless. "I mean there were bound to be some things that couldn't be accounted for with this trial and besides, you know how scatter-brained Lyssa and I are..."

Tendo thought about it. "Maybe. We'll have to schedule some testing to check the chip functions."

Tabitha groaned and shook her head.

"No! No more tests! Enough with your poking and prodding with sharp implements of destruction Tendo." She said, crossing her arms under her chest and shifting her weight to her left leg in defiance. "I agreed to be cut open and surgically implanted once and that would be the end of it. I won't stand to have wires being plugged into the back of my neck any more than I have to with Lady Bird. Unless it's life threatening and we don't have any other options to choose from then and only then will I allow it, other than that you can forget it."

Squaring her shoulder and standing up straighter, Tabitha's facial expression said that it was all she was going to say on the subject and that he should drop it. She could be stubborn in her own right and Tabitha never really got used to the idea of needles and scalpels, hell she never went to the doctor's office if she could help it and she wasn't about to start now. Tendo sighed and held his hands up in surrender. "Fine. Fine, unless the bio's show something life threatening we'll leave you alone, for now."

Lyssa was busy inspecting the scans, her attention was focused on a spike in one of the graphs. She stood up and shrugged. "Well it doesn't look like it's gonna kill us for a while so let go start our maneuvers ok?"

Tendo nodded. "Yeah. Go suit up."

With a single nod, Tabitha muttered a few Elvish words under her breath and turned back to the elevator, mashing the 'down' arrow button and waited impatiently for the doors to open again, drumming her fingers on her arm the whole time she was forced to wait. On the ride down she shuddered a little at the thought of the surgical team coming toward her with scalpels in their hands and let out a staggered breath.

"I absolutely loath knives, doctors and hospitals full of sick people." She said, watching as the light illuminated the numbers until they got the the ground floor. "Never again."

Lyssa put a hand on her arm. "Tracey… keep you memories separate from Tabitha's or you could get lost." She said softly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to chase that rabbit." Tracey said, shaking her head to clear her mind of her thoughts. "Okay, I think I'm better now, let's go."

The locker rooms was there next stop and it didn't take them long to get suited up in their under armor but it took slightly longer because all of the armor had to fit just right and then had to be screwed in place. They had to move every so often to make sure they would have full range of motion for when they got into their Jaeger, which was important if they were to get into a fight with the Raiju. Taking yet another elevator to the head of their Jaeger, Lady Bird, Tabitha and Lyssa got into their designated positions and got hooked up to their Jaeger systems. A slight tingling sensation ran through Tabitha's spine to the base of her skull.

"I'll never get used to that feeling."

Lyssa was leaning back into the fluid support system with a relaxed look on her face. "It feels like doing Magic. Like I'm connected with every atom in the world and can do anything." She sounded a little languid before she snapped out of it and grinned.

Tabitha looked over at Lyssa and smirked while shaking her head.

"Let's get this party started." She replied, punching a few buttons on the console and feeling the Jaeger's head connect with the rest of her body. "Gah, they never make a smooth connection and that's the next thing we should work on, it could damage the other components and we can't have that... Tendo! We're ready to initiate Neuro-handshake, do you copy?"

She pressed the button for the comm-link and waited for him to reply. "I copy. Try to keep it rated PG13 this time would ya? I do not need to know what Lyssa did with Harry."

Lyssa laughed. "Aww Tendo… jealous? I did ask you out you know."

Tendo chuckled. "You scare me Lyssa, I don't know if I'd come out of the date in one piece."

Lyssa gave a throaty laugh and pressed the button that would start the neuro-handshake. "Aw she's not all that bad Tendo, you should give Lyssa a try... you might like what you find."

Tabitha took a deep breath and let it out to steady her growing nervousness. Granted that the real Tabitha had done this countless times, but this time it was different because Tracey was doing the Neuro-handshake. She was about to share Artemis's memories and her own would be thrown into the mix, that was four different people's memories thrown into the soup and they were bound to have some sort of weird hangover or nightmares later on down the road.

"Oh the spiraling gray tunnel of doom." Tabitha cooed as the Neuro-handshake started and their memories of their childhood and life up to present day reeled like a movie in both their minds.

"Neuro-handshake initiated, signal is strong." Came a computerized female's voice over the inner-comm. "Calibrating, calibrating... systems are go."

"Alright!" Tabitha whooped with a smile, clenching her fists in front of her, ready for the next phase. "Let's go!"

Lyssa and Lady Bird mirrored her movements and it was thrilling. To wield that kind of power in this suit of armor was the pinnacle of freedom in this universe and it felt amazing.

"Running system diagnostic now, preparing to leave the hangar as soon as it's complete." She said, pushing a few buttons on the console in front of her.

The diagnostic sped through and came out clean and Lyssa stretched a little enjoying the feel of the suit, the Jaeger and the strength. "Alright Tendo we're taking a walk. We'll start with a circuit of the Launch Pad and loop back. How's the current?"

She brought up the display that showed the launch pad which was anchored 10 miles out to sea in an effort to keep the bulk of the Raiju away.

"The current is good. No rogue waves or under tows. There's a stormline coming in from the west but it might pass us by" Tendo replied.

"How's the Ring?" Lyssa asked pulling up another map showing the Pacific Ring of Fire, a long loop of active volcanos and the most likely place the Raiju would crop up from. Although they had been getting a lot of Raiju from Iceland and some of the biggest and most destructive Raiju had crawled up through the Yellowstone Super Volcano.

Tendo sounded a little worried when he answered. "Very active. There's a lot of Magma activity from the upward end by Greenland."

Lyssa pursed her lips and Tabitha could literally feel her calculating the odds and the time tables. "Thanks Tendo. Keep a pot on for us."

"You got it." Tendo replied and launched the Jaeger out of the underground hanger up into the bright pacific sunlight.

Tabitha's heart seemed to rise as their Jaeger rose to the surface. It was an exhilarating feeling, the power that the Jaeger provided to them, Raleigh had been right about the Jaegers, they would be able to weather any storm. They weren't far from the ocean and within ten minutes they had passed through the deep man made canyon to the edge of the ocean wall and were stepping out into the ocean, it took little effort to move Lady Bird through the currents, seeing as the Jaeger was doing the hard labor, but Tabitha and Lyssa started making their way towards the launchpad.

"We're going to be out here for a while... so what are your thoughts?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the various screens before them.

"Did you happen to notice the spike in the graph just before the bio's went dead?" Lyssa asked.

Tabitha thought back to the control room and nodded.

"I did notice that and it worried me a little." She replied, muting their comm-link so they could talk without being overheard. "Do you think Tendo will dig further into the graphs?"

"He's too smart and curious not to." Lyssa replied. "I think we saw scientific proof of what's been happening every time we get dumped into a new Universe. I want a copy of that data."

"Other than studying it, what would it really prove? Do you think that WE might be able to manipulate where the Voice sends us?" Tabitha asked curiously. "I'm pretty sure I can get it through hacking if we don't want to raise Tendo's suspicions. I'm sure he'd just give it us us, but hacking is always a good backup plan to have."

She continued to observe the monitors to make sure nothing snuck up on them. Lyssa entered an authorization code letting the Launch Pad know they were friendly and they started their 6 mile circuit around the massive floating complex, she could see the Shuttle which was almost complete, each shuttle was also a modular habitat for what humanity was left, there were very small apartments on the shuttle that could accommodate groups of five as well as the cargo bays, the mechanic bay and the docking station which would link up with another shuttle or the Lunar Base. The secondary reason for having the Launch Pad this far out at sea was they could do multiple airlock tests by submerging the shuttle under water. "I don't think we can manipulate where we get sent but I want to know how it's being done."

Tabitha nodded and if Lyssa could explain it to her then she'd understand it better, or at least get an idea of what she could expect from here on out. She'd also like to understand why she kept vomiting every time they landed successfully in another universe, but that would have to wait till they got more information. Turning back on their comm-links, Tabitha flipped a series of switches and started an area sweep around the launch pad.

"Those pods are impressive and to think that we have our own and Hannibal will be launched into space in three days time." She mused, stepping out and swaying with the movement of their Jaeger. "I'd like to see what our pod looks like on the inside if we ever get the chance to."

"It looks like all the other pods. And Hannibal is leaving in Three days, we have another two weeks in hell securing the cargo shuttle. We ride up in that." She motioned towards a smaller less refined shuttle that had a swarm of tiny shapes around it like ants loading cargo containers and crates into the compartments.

"At least we have our own living-quarters on the moon base." Tabitha answered with a smirk. "Hurray for having money... sucks that we can't take any of it with us, though I have thought about a loophole for that. I was thinking if we withdrew the money and put it in the duffel bags we were able to bring with us from the other worlds and if my theory is correct, we'll be able to take it to the next universe and not have to worry about finances for a while. As far as I know it could be my wishful thinking, but it's always worth a try."

"You know that might just work. The cash from New York turned into gold and silver in Middle Earth." Lyssa replied.

"Do you know how many problems that would solve for us?!" Tabitha asked in exasperation, but all smiles. "We'd be set for life even when we got back to our world. I say lets hit the atm right after we figure out why we're here and fix what needs fixing so we can secure a future and further our crafting business."

They continued to walk around the perimeter and scan for any unfriendlies. "That assumes that the capital will transfer back to our own world." Lyssa replied and sighed. "We can't assume that anything will work the way we expect it to."

The alarms went off before Tabitha could say anything and Lyssa turned them to face whatever was coming. They didn't have long to wait, Tendo's voice came over the comm. "You've got a huge Swimmer coming your way. It pinged off the Launch Pads Electrified perimeter so it's probably pissed."

"Time to go to work!" Tabitha exclaimed, flipping another switch on her side of the console and preparing herself for attack. "Are you with me Lyssa? It's time to earn our keep."

"Tabby, I'm jacked into your brain. Where the hell else am I supposed to be?" Lyssa asked but she had a fierce grin on her face and she took a ready stance.

The Raiju broke the surface like the worlds ugliest whale. The skin around its head was blackened and peeling from its ascent through the volcanos and its mouth was obscenely wide packed with so many teeth it couldn't have closed it's jaw all the way if it had tried. Dozens of blood red eyes peppered it's head so it could see in every direction. It stood on flippered feet and reached for them with four arms fingers webbed and tipped in claws two feet long. Barnacles clung in strange patches everywhere, testament to its age, it was stronger, faster and brutal enough to have survived long enough for barnacles to have attached themselves.

"Oh, what do you think a category four or five? Regardless, this will be fun and having you in me head my sweet is even more so." Tabitha replied with a smile, flexing her fingers and balling them into fists. "This bastard is wicked ugly, kicking his ass will be thoroughly enjoyable. Lyssa, play us some music to get our blood going! We're about to rumble!"

This was totally not Tracey, she would never stare down a huge monster like this willingly and get this excited. She guessed that this was really Tabitha's moment and she'd embraced it.

"Alright, let's dance pretty boy."

Lyssa flipped a switch and Born to be Wild filled the cockpit. They stepped forward and the fight was on, the Raiju tried to grapple with Lady Bird only to have its webbed hands slide off the totally smooth surface. Lady Bird punched upward in an uppercut but the Raiju leaned its head back and the punch missed, its lashed out with its tongue and a film of acidic slime coated the side of Lady Birds head; Lyssa turned off the acid alarm and Lady Bird took another swing at the Raiju this time bringing up her knee to plant it in the Raiju's gut sending it staggering backwards. "Oh a tricky little bugger aren't you?" Tabitha mused, doing some quick thinking and smiling widely. "Come on big boy, I wanna try this again. Lyssa, those arms are going to be a problem I think... what say we break them?"

This time they moved forward while the Raiju staggered and made as if to attack head on, but this time they passed by it's side and grabbed hold of one of its four arms. Their Jaeger's right hand clasped it's wrist and it's left elbow came down again, splintering the Raiju's bones with a resounding crack. The Raiju screeched in pain and flailed its other arm around trying to land a hit, but it was no good. This time Lady Bird grabbed that wrist and brought it's right elbow down, breaking its other arm.

"Two down, I do think it's going to be a bit harder to break it's other two arms... Suggestions?"

"Lets get surgical." Lyssa snarled and tapped her display bringing up a pair of knives then mashed the button and a pair of wickedly curved blades snapped out into Lady Birds hands. "Go for joints."

"Sushi on a silver platter, I love it! Though this guy won't taste very good!" Tabitha laughed, twirling the blades in their hands before gripping them tightly. "Tally-ho!"

Together they dodged another wild swing from the Raiju, it's broken limbs flailing around uselessly as it moved. Crouching low and moving rapidly, Tabitha and Lyssa darted forward and jabbed with their curved blades, driving them deep into the Raiju's tough skin and tearing open its flesh. Green blood oozed from the gash marks they left and the Raiju roared in fury.

"Uh Oh, I think we pissed it off-fa-fa."

"Let's make it feel better." Lyssa said. "Kiss it all better." Lady Bird rammed her head into the Raiju's face making it stagger back and they brought one blade up into the Raiju's abdomen.

"I think it has a tummy ache, let's take a look and see what's bugging it." Lyssa snarled and dragged the blade upwards until it snagged on the keel bone in the chest.

Even though Tabitha wasn't physically in battle, she and Lyssa did grunt as if they were and their exertion felt real all the same. She grunted and they pulled the blades out again and drove them back into it's middle, this time wrenching them out to the sides and spilling forth it's entrails in a heap.

"Oh will you look at that Lyssa, I think he had too much iron in his diet!" Tabitha laughed. "He really should see a nutritionist about that."

The life drained out of the Raiju along with the greater quantity of its green blood and it sank into the water. Lyssa put the knives away and loaded the gun. "Let's see where it keeps its brain shall we? Arthur Weasley did say never trust something if you can't see where it keeps its brain."

They aimed at the Raijou's head and Lyssa smirked. "And shepards we shall be…"

"Nighty night Raiju." Tabitha replied, squeezing the imaginary gun in her hand and Lady Bird dispatched the bullet into the Raiju. "I'm satisfied now, but I have to wonder if we should call up Hannibal and see what he can salvage from this pathetic creature... hm perhaps we can drop it off for him somewhere."

Lyssa looked at the mess in the water and shook her head. "Nah. We have enough to keep Lady Bird running for months yet."

She turned on the comms. "Tendo, SharkFace is down, we're finishing our patrol."

"You got it girls. Thanks for the blast from the past musical choice." Tendo replied.

"Aw you're most welcome Tendo." Tabitha laughed, stretching out. "You know, you really should go out with Lyssa. If you like our music selections, you'll like how she dances."

Giggling lightly, Tabitha and Lyssa looked over at the launchpad's control tower and gave them a thumbs-up before turning away and heading back to base.

"I need a nap, or a shower... or both... or the gym... I don't know. What about you Lyssa?"

"I'm hitting the Gym, shower, mess then bed." Lyssa scanned the horizon while they made their way back.

"Oh a little sparring then, might I have that dance?" She asked with a smirk, scanning their monitors as they walked back to base.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh a little sparring then, might I have that dance?" She asked with a smirk, scanning their monitors as they walked back to base.

They proceeded to the hanger bay and followed their guides in getting Lady Bird back into her resting chambers for another bout of diagnostics and maintenance. She was going to need repairs after that acid shower she received during their battle. Tabitha patted the Jaeger on her way out and muttered a quiet 'thanks' to it for protecting them from the Raiju and followed Lyssa out, heading to the locker room to get their metal armor removed so they could change and go about their business. "So good to be out of that armor, what a rush!"

Once they were out of the armor Lyssa made a beeline for the gym. She desperately needed to hit something, she wasn't quite sure why but it seemed like as good a time as any to indulge herself. Tabitha stretched up and grunted when she popped a few of her joints and sighed, smoothing out her hair until she could tied it back in a ponytail. The floor of the gym had thick mats thrown everywhere for their maintenance people and Pilots to spar on. There were various piece of gym equipment and punching bags lined a few walls for the gyms occupants to use at their leisure. She grabbed the binding tap from a shelf in the equipment room and two pairs of boxing gloves for them to use if they wanted to or they could just go with their own hands. It all depended on their mood, whether they would use their hands or the gloves. Pairs of Pilots worked out together or went about their own business, but many looked up at them when they entered. "It's like we've sprouted another head between the two of us Lyssa." Tabitha said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Lyssa smirked and taped her hands. "Take a look darlin', we're the only two girls who are also pilots in this place. Every other pair of pilots are guys."

She rolled her shoulders and made a kissy face at one of the other pilots who grinned at her. He started towards her when Marshal Hansen strode into the room and everyone saluted. He was in workout clothes and strode right up to Tabitha and Lyssa. "Well come on then, lets have a go."

Lyssa held up her fist and looked at Tabitha. "Rock," She said and bounced her fist up and down."

Tabitha raised and eyebrow and shook her head, holding up her hands and taking a step backward.

"Oh no, you're on your own Lyssa." She giggled, starting her stretches and wiggling her hips to the nearest punching bag. "I'm a pacifist... unless it's killing Raiju. I think I'll watch from a safe place and take out some of my own frustrations on this punching bag I've named Max for the time being... Have fun."

Tabitha wanted to get good and flexible so she continued her stretches, staying to the outside of the sparring circle. Bending over, Tabitha bent at the waist and touched her toes before bending over backwards and completing her bridge. She opened her eyes while still hanging upside down in her bridge formation, let out a breath, and noticed a young man watching her. He was about tall, slim but well sculpted, with spiky, dirty blond hair and kind green eyes. Coughing quickly, he shook his head and turned away.

'Oh boy... Tabitha... who is this taste morsel?' She thought to herself with a giggle, before using her feet to push herself bodily over her head and touch back down on her toes. "Whenever you're read Lyssa dear."

"Traitor." Lyssa teased and turned back towards Marshal Hansen. "First person to hit the mat three times loses." She said and brought her hands up in loose fists.

Hansen brought his hands up too and they circled each other, Lyssa made a few testing jabs then launched her first assault. He blocked, struck, kicked and she blocked. They moved in a circle around each other and the gym went quiet around them as everyone watched. A few made bets on the outcome as Marshal Hansen got her in an armlock and tried to drop her to the floor, Lyssa turned into the armlock and brought her knee up and he had to let her go to block the strike. He used his longer reached to keep her away from him and swept her foot out from under her.

"Strike one Hercules!" Someone yelled and she sprang back up.

They kept circling and he gave her an infuriating smirk and she laughed at him, he took struck out at her in a flurry of blows She blocked most of them but took one or two on the forearms on purpose so she could get in close, she swept his leg out from under him, her hands on his shoulders and rode him down. "Strike One Lyssa!" Someone else yelled and she kissed his forehead before getting up.

They kept going and within a few minutes they each had one more hit to the mat apiece and were circling each other much more warily. They were both breathing hard and the betting was getting serious. Tabitha was watching the proceedings with her arms crossed over her chest and her weight situated on her left leg. All the while they were sparring, she was calculating their pros and cons. She knew Lyssa well and saw that she would deliver a final blow very soon.

"Ten thousand on Lyssa for the win." She called out, causing everyone around her to go silent and look at her in awe. "Lyssa my dear, it's time to pay the piper or do our laundry until we're aboard the shuttle for the moon. Your choice my dear."

"I'll take that bet." Said a younger voice, with a Russian accent and a few turned to look at him. "I like a good challenge."

Tabitha's eyes shifted to the young man she had seen before, watching her stretch and smirked, glancing back to Lyssa. All bets were in and now the outcome depended on the strength of will and fighting skills of each fighter. Tabitha could suddenly sense when Lyssa was done playing, she shifted her stance suddenly and Tabitha...no Tracey… was suddenly reminded of the way Artemis had moved when she was baiting Kurai in New York, her face had lost that teasing edge and Tracey saw that her eyes weren't really seeing Hansen, it was like she was seeing something, someone else and with a sudden burst she leapt up hooked her leg around Marshal Hansens neck and dragged him down, He grabbed her by the waist and staggered but kept his feet, but once his hands were occupied holding up her weight she leaned all the way back her body arched in a way that made the surrounding men whistle and catcall, she ignored it all and used her fists to strike the backs of Marshal Hansens knees buckling them and forcing him to drop to the floor dropping her in the process.

She rolled on top of him and had her hand up her fingers rigid as she prepared to drive them into his throat then she stopped, blinked and got off him. She grinned and held a hand out to help him up breathing hard. "Marshal Hansen you very nearly had me there."

Many of the surrounding men jeered and laughed to their partners as money was passed around. A lot of the onlookers groaned as their money was taken from them. There were whispers that the fight was fixed, but they were quickly silenced when they looked at Lyssa and then saw the look on Tabitha's face. She stepped forward and clapped Lyssa on the shoulder and shook Marshal Hansen's hand.

"Marshal you are a skilled fighter and no one can doubt your skills, but Lyssa is perfect and has many skill sets." She said with a smile. "Way to go Lyssa, looks like I'm doing the laundry."

Marshal Hansen shook both their hands and grinned. "That was a good fight."

Lyssa grinned back at him. "It was a good fight. Thanks Marshal."

She looked over at Tabitha. "Don't forget the sheets Tabby, I'm grabbing a shower."

She waved at the onlookers and blew them all a kiss. "Thanks for your money guys!"

She headed towards the showers peeling the tape off her hands and Marshal Hansen looked at Tabitha getting his breath under control. "You're her best friend right?"

Looking up at him, Tabitha smiled and nodded.

"I like to say that, but I also like to believe that I'm her sister as well." She replied with a smirk. "She really is one of a kind. But why do you ask?"

"When she finished the fight just then I saw…" He paused and shook his head then finished quickly. "I thought I saw someone else for just a second when she had her hand up ready to cave my throat in."

He looked at her hoping she didn't think he was insane. Tabitha's expression was quite the opposite as a matter of fact. Concern flittered across her face and she looked past him to Lyssa's back and then she shook her head. She would definitely have to talk to her when they had a moment in her room. This time during their fight, it was Lyssa who chased the rabbit and Tracey worried that Artemis might be getting her's and Lyssa's memories mixed up... something they couldn't have happen to either of them.

"I don't think you should worry too much about Lyssa... she has a complicated past and that's all I'm going to say. We've come very far and and been through much, she is like a sister to me and I will always have her back." She replied, nodding to her explanation.

It was true, they did have a complicated past, they had come very far and it seemed they still had a ways to go apparently and she would always have Artemis's back. No matter where she went, Tracey would follow and whenever she needed her, she'd be there.

"Well, time to collect my winnings, thanks for playing the game Marshal. I look forward to playing again." She gave him a smile and clapped him on the back.


	5. Chapter 5

Tracey sat on the oak branch staring up at the full moon like a shining silver platter hanging in a sky so full of stars it looked crowded. She could feel the counterbalance of her wings while she sat on the branch and the scent of a night blooming flower hung around her like a veil. The wind was a gentle caress against her skin and the arm around her waist was familiar and comforting. Legolas had pulled her in close to his side while they sat on the branch in comfortable silence. He kissed her gently and started to say something but all she heard was an irritating shrieking noise before the dream faded and left her staring up at the underside of Artemis's bunk.

Tracey blinked and suddenly her surroundings came flooding back to her and she had to blink again to clear her mind. Her heart gave a painful lurch, her chin began to tremble a bit and she felt her cheeks start to grow hot as she rolled over away from the door. Salty tears burned her eyes and she curled in on herself so she could weep quietly into her pillow.

'This is starting to get a little difficult.' She thought to herself, burying her face in her pillow. 'I just want to have him back. How does Artemis do it?!'

Artemis thumped onto the floor and slapped the alarm clock off the desk and grumbled something about obscene times of days. She glanced over at Tracey and let out a slow breath before sitting down on the edge of the bed and rubbed Traceys back. "I won't lie and tell you it gets easier. You just… learn to shut it down…"

"That's a little bit harder than one might think..." Came Tracey's muffled voice from the pillow fabric. "Since The Voice has blessed me these visions and nightmares that I can never escape from and it's making me miserable."

She rolled over on her mattress and curled herself around Artemis, looking at her from the pillow.

"Oh speaking of which, Marshal Hansen noticed your little shift to Artemis. We need to be more careful, we can't revert to our other selves." She sniffled, drying her eyes with the corner of the pillow case. "We have to get back to The Voice and kick his ass for all the suffering it's caused us."

Artemis stroked Traceys hair. "I get them too." She said quietly and sighed softly. "I didn't mean to revert, I remembered sparring with Xena and the way Iolaus watched me. I got so… angry. I was furious all of a sudden and… I just let it all go away for a minute, it was so easy to just let it go while I fought."

"Let's just try to reign in our emotions, our memories, and everything else." Tracey replied, blinking as Artemis's caressed her hair. "We'll take our anger out on the punching bags from now on... What are we going to do today?"

"We're guarding the supply ship from the shore to the Launch Pad." Artemis replied staring at the wall for a moment her eyes distant as she took Tracey's hand.

She blinked and looked down at Tracey. "Learn to enjoy the dreams. It's as close as we get to our guys and it helps with everything else, especially with the Nightmares."

She reached over and opened a desk drawer and pulled out a leather bound Journal with embossed Moonflowers on the cover. She set it down next to Tracey and ran a finger along the flowers. "I had it made before we left to get Tauriel… I had Legolas write a few letters while we were on our way back to Lothlorien. You don't have to write anything in particular, just… don't bottle it up ok?"

A fresh wave of tears sprang from Tracey's eyes and she clutched the beautiful journal close to her chest. A sudden realization struck her and she fingered the journal's design as it suddenly became more sentimental to her. It was the same leather bound book that she had seen Legolas writing in, but he always kept it on his person so she never figured it had been meant for her. Her pillow became soaked and once her weeping had finished, Tabitha dried her red and puffy eyes and pushed away her pillow so she could get changed.

"Thank you Artemis, I will be writing in this often... and perhaps it will keep me sane for a while." She said quietly, turning to hug her from behind. "It's a beautiful gift."

Artemis patted her arm and stood up her shoulders squared and set. "For a beautiful person." She said and turned with a small smile. "Come on you, we'll be late."Tabitha nodded and placed the precious journal in her duffel bag and grabbed some clean clothes. She changed into them, ran a brush quickly through her hair and applied a little makeup to cover up the fact that she had been crying. Looking in their mirror, she nodded at her applications and turned back to smile at Artemis.

"Alright Artemis, I'm ready. Let's get some breakfast and then suit up."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Tabitha opened their door and stepped out to go to the mess hall.

Lyssa had dressed while Tabitha did her makeup and followed her out to the mess hall, it was a frantic buzz of activity and Tabitha grabbed Lyssa's arm as they stared up at the video screens showing four Raiju being held in the Miracle mile by six Jaegers. The Raiju were immense, terrifyingly huge, category 6 at least and Lyssa turned and ran for the locker room. "We have to get out there, why Tendo didn't sound the alarm and send us out when they surfaced is beyond me." She growled as she peeled off her cloths and shimmied into the neoprene body suit that went under the armor and pulled the zipper up.

"I don't know why but we've got a job to do." Tabitha answered and she changed into her suit and had the armor applied. "Let's get her done."

It didn't take them long to get into Lady Bird and run all the startup processes necessary to get her going. Tabitha checked the comm-links to make sure they were working and prepared herself for their upcoming battle.

"So much for breakfast... perhaps we'll grab something when we get back." She mused, listening to her stomach growl loudly.

Lyssa punched in the startup code. "Tendo get us locked!" She snapped.

"Was just about to call you two. We have three category six Raigu in the Miracle Mile. We've lost two Jaegers and Pilot Pairs. The Raiju are using electrical attacks and they are trying to advance to the Platform." Tendo replied calmly and they felt the lurch as the cockpit dropped down to join the body of their Jaeger.

Tabitha and Lyssa lurched back and forth as Lady Bird's head connected with her body. Gears and the clinking of metal that supported their head on their body steamed and locked into place. Flipping a few switches, everything was set and ready to go. Tabitha gave Lyssa a thumbs up and they walked their Jaeger to the elevator so they could be transported to the surface.

"You should have called up before it happened." Tabitha scolded, speaking to Tendo. "When there's a Raiju attack, we all should go on alert."

"If you all went on alert you'd all be permanently exhausted." Marshal Hansen retorted. "You're good but so is everyone else."

"Be that as it may Marshal, that's why we're here." Tabitha shot back, shaking her head. "Enough chit-chat, let's start this party... We're heading to the Miracle Mile now."

They made record time to the Miracle Mile where the remaining four Jaegers were desperately trying to push the Raiju back into shallower water where they could press an advantage over the massive creatures. "Aw boys, you shouldn't have started the party without us." Tabitha scolded, mockingly pouting over the comm-link to they all could hear her voice. "Lock and load gentlemen, let's burn these bastards."

The Raiju roared in frustration at the addition of Lady Bird and one broke past the other two, breaking passed the semi-ring of Jaegers and charged them. Tabitha and Lyssa made Lady Bird crouch and flipped out their dangerously curved knives, moving quickly to advance on the Raiju. Together they slashed at the Raiju and moved quickly, hacking off both it's arms before going in for it's chest and carving chunks out of it's flesh. The Raiju fell to it's knees and Lady Bird kicked it backwards, making sure it was dead.

"And that's how it's done ladies."

It was the spur of adrenaline that the other Jaeger Pilots needed to move in. One of the remaining two Raiju roared and then charged, only to be completely blown away with a barrage of attacks. Within minutes, though it felt longer, both the remaining two Raiju fell and their green blood oozed from their corpses. Lady Bird looked around to area, doing a quick sweep to make sure that was all was clear. There was no more loss of life, but the Jaegers would need more tuning when they got back to the maintenance shed.

The other two Jaegers dragged the dead Raiju out to the bay and before heading back towards the base. Lyssa unhooked from her cradle and opened one of the first aid kits pulling out MRE's and juice pouches. "We're already out, may as well eat fast then get ready for patrol." She commented taking off her helmet.

"Agreed." Tabitha said, taking the drink Lyssa tossed her and poking a hole in her juice pouch. "Killing those things makes me hungry."

Powering down and unhooking herself from the Jaeger's harness, she landed on the metal scaffolding with a clank and took off her helmet. Setting it aside, Tracey leaned against the wall and drank her drink quietly, pushing back her hair and receding into her own thoughts. Absently she munched on her provisions, not really tasting her food and wiping crumbs from her lips. Lyssa left her alone for a while to brood but once their impromptu meal was done she poked Tabitha and smiled. "Hey. Don't get lost up there."

"Hm? Oh, sorry." Tabitha replied, giving her head a shake and clear her head again. "Well I'm ready to start moving our Lady when you are... I'd like to get back to base as soon as possible to read the journal and possible write something in there too."

Replacing her helmet, Tabitha gave her a smile and turned to get hooked up in the Jaeger harness again. Lyssa hooked up and powered Lady Bird up. "We still have to escort the ships to the Launch Pad and back before we can call it a day."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Tabitha replied, flipping a few switches and their Jaeger roared into life.

The motor hummed loudly and the screens lit up for surveillance. As they started to get moving around, Lady Bird tried to keep from dispelling to water too much around the ships while they docked with supplies and equipment that would be crucial for the space base orbiting the earth above them. Keeping a constant watch on the monitors, the ladies prayed that they wouldn't have any encounters with the Raiju. They were almost done with the escort mission when the last ship started to flounder. Tendo's voice crackled in their ears. "The ship's hull has burst. You need to get the ship to the Platform before the sea water damages the telecom crates."

"We will Tendo. Never a dull moment... come on Lyssa." Tabitha said, shaking her head. "Time to rock the cradle a little and put this baby to bed at the docks."

Pushing forward, the ocean waves churned and rose as Lady Bird moved to the boat and picked it up carefully as possible. It was a little like playing with the claw machine at the arcade, they had to be delicate with the ship and it's fragile cargo. They were almost to the Platform when the water around them swelled and rippled. Lyssa swore viciously and started transferring the ship fully into Tabitha's hemisphere trying to keep the balance even. She drew the wickedly curved knife just as the Raiju surfaced and she rammed the blade up into its sternum. "Ah shit!" Tabitha swore and split her concentration between the ship and their newest arrival. "Don't these guys ever give up?"

The Raiju couldn't have come at the worst possible time. "I won't miss these bastards when we leave."

"You concentrate on the ship. I've got this bitch." Lyssa snarled and ripped the knife out, green blood spilling down into the water.

"Will do." Tabitha said with a nod, looking over to the ship and keeping it balanced in her hand.

The Raiju roared fitfully and fell into the water at their feet. Green blood oozed to the surface and Tabitha could breath a sigh of relief as they sheathed their knife. Lyssa reached down and grabbed the Raiju dragging it up to the surface to make one hundred percent sure it would stay dead. The Raiju suddenly opened huge yellow eyes and hissed like a monstrous cobra, Lyssa tried to crush the Raiju spine but the grip was wrong and it took her a few precious minutes to keep it from breaking free to attack. "Tabby. Put a foot down on this fucker so I can get my hands free."  
"This Raiju is particularly slippery, but it should be manageable."

She raised her foot and stepped on Raiju, kneeling down as well to make sure the creature couldn't slip away while Lyssa adjusted herself to better take care of the Raiju.

Lyssa pulled out the gun and rammed it into the snapping maw of the Raiju and started firing until it's head was reduced to so much mush. Lyssa rinsed the blood and brain matter off the gun and holstered it. "Now it's dead." She said and helped Tabitha cradle the ship." Lets get baby back to the platform."

"Will do, then I think we'll have to do an extra round of the Miracle Mile just to make sure none of these creatures are lingering about and putting a wrench in the human race's escape to space." Tabitha replied, sighing in annoyance.

Gingerly they set the ship on the dry docks and stepped back to make sure they didn't get in the way.

Lyssa hit the comm button. "We got the ship to the platform Tendo. We're doing a final patrol then headed in."

"Sounds great Lady Bird. Marshall Hansen wants to talk to you when you get back about tomorrow's mission."

"Usually no one could ever make that sound like we weren't in trouble, but with your sweet voice Tendo, we know we'll be just fine." Tabitha laughed, giving Lyssa a smirk. "I guess we can stop in after this and before we get some dinner. But remember that we'll escorting Hannibal Chow to his platform too."

"I think that's what he wants to talk to you about Tabby-Cat." Tendo said with a chuckle.

"Of course he would." She muttered, rolling her eyes. "Like I said there's no negotiating on that point, but I'll humor him... I have a feeling I'm not going to like what he says. Let's get this over with Lyssa."

"We haven't even started our patrol Tabby. Lets finish that first eh?" Lyssa mapped out their patrol route.

"Of course that's what I meant." Tabitha said, shaking her head and following Lyssa's route. "I just hope that there aren't anymore Raiju lurking about."

She eyed their screens, monitors and flipped a few switched to get Lady Bird's systems boosted for better tracking and detection of the Raiju.

"I think they know something is happening." Lyssa commented after a moment. "It's like they're trying to stop us."

"I think you're right, but why not just let us leave?" Tabitha asked, shaking her head. "They obviously want us gone so they're trying to kill us, but why stop us from getting to space in the first place?"

"Maybe it's not that they want us gone. Maybe it's about losing a favored food source. Who knows what Raiju think it's not as if we've been able to communicate with them." Lyssa pulled up a topographical map of the Miracle Mile.

"Well they're not giving us much of a choice, but to leave. If there was another source of food they'd like to have other than us then I wish they would hunt it." Tabitha answered, keeping her eyes on the screens in front of them. "If only we could go postal on this place after we all get off this hunk of rock."

"Its Nature Tabby. It's just nature, red in tooth and claw. Humanity likes to pretend we're at the top but we have predators now. There's enough of humanity that got away that we'll rebuild and maybe even do better." She traced the route with a finger and smiled. "Looks like our patrol is over, let's head home."

"I'd say I'm right behind you, but I'm right beside you on that one. Let's go home, get a hot shower and food." She laughed. "Might chit-chat with that cute Russian from the gym... oh speaking of which, I have your half of the bet in your duffel bag."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey all you gorgeous readers! Thanks so much for reading, this series has really grown since we started it and we love seeing the reader numbers climb! This story is shorter than our other ones but no less dear to us! As always Reviewers get Good Karma and Kitten Kisses!**

"I'd say I'm right behind you, but I'm right beside you on that one. Let's go home, get a hot shower and food." She laughed. "Might chit-chat with that cute Russian from the gym... oh speaking of which, I have your half of the bet in your duffel bag."

Together they turned back to base and made their way home. When they disembarked from the elevator Tendo was there to greet them with a smile. Lyssa grinned and winked at Tabitha before sidling up and wrapping an arm around Tendo's waist, she was shorter than him by inches and she grinned up at him. "Tendo baby… wanna bring that smile around for a nightcap tonight?"

His face flushed a little but he was saved by Marshall Hansen striding towards them. "Lyssa stop sexually harassing Tendo."

"Want me to sexually harass you instead?" Lyssa asked but she let Tendo go.

"Hardly. I need you in my office." Hansen walked past them towards his office.

"You know it's not sexually harassment if Tendo likes it, Marshall." Tabitha chirped up with and smiled.

She winked at Tendo and gave him a small wave before following Marshall Hansen and Lyssa into his office.

"So what can we do for you Marshall?"

He motioned for them to sit and for once Lyssa just sat. He scrubbed his hands over his face and sighed. "We're pushing the final launch up. The Raiju are massing, we've been scanning the Volcanos and they're gathering in huge numbers, all along the coasts and in the underwater volcanos. Tendo's best guess is that they're going to attack before we can launch. It's going to be bad, we're pulling all our Jaegers from every quadrant to guard the platform. We launch in two days, we launch everything in two days, I need you two to explain that to Hannibal Chow."

Tabitha tapped her chin thoughtfully and shrugged her shoulders before nodding.

"It seems like an easy enough task to do. I'll give him a call tonight after this and let him know." She said, glancing at Lyssa to see if she objected. "This will indeed prove to be interesting."

Lyssa was frowning. "I think we should go retrieve him and deliver him to the Platform as planned just in case. If the Raiju launch a full scale attack we might not have time to go get him."

"I doubt he'd agree to us bringing him here earlier than that." Tabitha mused out loud, not speaking to anyone in particular. "But we might have to consider it, plus it would knock out an extra step and get his ass on the launch pad."

Lyssa nodded and stood. "Can I get a look at the data?"

Marshall Hansen nodded. "Yeah, but what are you hoping to find?"

"I dunno, I just want to look." Lyssa shrugged and paced the office all nervous energy.

"It doesn't hurt to have an extra pair of eyes looking at all the research you've gathered these passed few days." Tabitha thought, whipping out her cell phone and scrolling for Hannibal's number. "I need to step out for this call, we don't want to offend him with any harsh words."

Standing up, she smiled and dialed his number, putting the phone to her ear to talk to Hannibal. A woman answered the phone and it took three different people to get the phone to Hannibal. When she was finally able to talk to him his greeting was typical. "Tabitha baby, tell me you called cause you want my body."

"Sorry sweetheart, this isn't a booty call, but I would like to take you up on that dinner date if you're still interested." Tabitha laughed, leaning against the outside of Marshall Hansen's office door. "I would also like to bring you and your people here to the base for safety tomorrow. We've gotten reports about growing Raiju numbers and we're bringing in the other Jaegers to help fend them off while the launch pads are getting ready. It would be for your protection and... I don't think I could handle losing you... you're so dear to my heart."

Tabitha was biting back her giggles and trying her hardest to sound sincere, but she didn't think she was succeeding very well.

Hannibal Chow laughed and the sound rolled through the speakers loud enough that Lyssa heard it too. "You smooth bitch. I take it the launch has been pushed up?"

"Yes the launch has been moved up due to the Raiju activity and we get to have your company for a few days before we take you to the launch pad. It would be easier this way since we wouldn't have to go get you if everything went to hell, but hey, you promised me a dinner date and Lyssa a drink." Tabitha laughed and shook her head. "This could be our last living night on earth Hannibal... think about it, it could be fun."

Looking over at Lyssa, Tabitha made a motion in the air that let her know that he was contemplating and she hoped that his reply would be favorable. He gave a long suffering sigh and she knew he had relented. "We'll get everything packed and ready by 1500."

"And we shall roll out the red carpet and have your rooms prepared. We will be your escort while you're on base and of course when we start moving everyone to the launch pads." She replied, giving Lyssa a thumbs up and smile. "Thank you for considering our point of view, we'll be there to pick you up by then."

Closing her phone and putting it in her pocket again, she turned to Lyssa and Marshall Hansen. Tabitha smiled and relayed Hannibal's message to them and this set her at ease, but only a little.

"Well that covers that... anything else, Boss?"

"Nah, you got a few hours to yourselves. Go enjoy them." Marshall Hansen replied.

Lyssa straightened up and grinned. "Thanks boss!"

Pushing herself off the door, Tabitha gave Marshall Hansen a salute and then looped her arm with Lyssa and directed her to the door.

"Then we do as we planned and grab shower and dinner... After that we chill because we deserve it." She stated, kicking the door shut behind them. "My shoulder blade is itching again... never did feel right after I fell out of that tree when we were traveling in the wilds and being hunted."

Reaching back, she rubbed her right shoulder, jutting the shoulder-blade out at an angle and listening to it pop. Lyssa reached over and rubbed the muscles around the shoulder blade while they walked through the complex, she paused when she heard a faint buzzing noise and turned to glance into one of the larger lounges where a man was lying on a table and another man was using a tattoo gun to finish some artwork on the first mans back. "Oooh."

"Hm?" Tabitha asked, making a noise as she glanced over at Lyssa and shook her head. "Have fun with that. I'm going to grab something to eat and you can't make me."

Tabitha let go of Lyssa's arm and looked at the tattoo parlor and shook her head. Lyssa grinned and grabbed her hand. "Come on you, You don't have anything with Nargis and it's not even your body, let's get a pair of Nargis tats together."

Tabitha groaned and locked her legs up to make it a little bit more difficult to move her, but eventually she moved because she and Lyssa were starting my make a scene and people were watching them. She trudge forward like a child who had been caught trying to steal cookies from the cookie jar before eating dinner and allowed Lyssa to direct her into the tattoo shop.

"It may not be my body, but it will be my pain that I feel." She muttered, eying all of the implements of torture as they drew closer to the counter.

Lyssa smirked at her and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil, she sketched something quickly and showed it to Tabitha. It was Nargis in flight, wings spread with the markings shaded in holding a piece of ribbon looped into a word underneath. "Forever."

"Forever..." Tabitha whispered quietly, her heart beating painfully.

It was the last little push she needed to agree to getting the tattoo. Nargis and Artemis would be 'forever' in her heart, but there was Legolas too... He'd be with her 'forever' not just in her heart, but also closer to her forever.

"Alright Lyssa, let's do this before I change my mind."

Lyssa kissed her cheek and led her over to the table which the artist was wiping down with some sort of sterilizer. He grinned. "Hey Tabby, Lyssa, haven't seen you guys in here."

Lyssa smild. "Hey Chuck. Tabby wants some art."

His mouth dropped open then he whooped. "Finally! I get to put some art on that gorgeous skin!"

Lyssa held out the sketch and and nodded. "Why am I not surprised it's a bird?" He chuckled and took the drawing.

"Given our Jaeger and all…" Lyssa drawled and he grinned.

"Where ya want it Tabby Cat?"

"First off, don't get too carried away with the ink and my skin and watch where you put your hands because I will break your fingers." Tabitha said, crossing her arms under her chest and shifted her weight to her left leg. "And secondly I know word has traveled around the base about what I did to Max, so you know that when I say I will break your fingers, I mean I will break your fingers."

She looked over at Lyssa and sighed, hopping up on the table and turned her back to Chuck. Squaring her shoulders and back, Tabitha looked over her shoulder at Chuck and smirked.

"Upper right hand corner please Chuck, this one is sentimental so please make it perfect."

He grinned and took the sketch to his work table and came back with the image traced out on transfer paper. He quickly applied the transfer to Tabitha's shoulder blade and gloved up. Roughly two hours later the tattoo was done and Lyssa was shaking feeling back into her fingers where Tabitha had squeezed them. He handed Tabitha a hand mirror and motioned to the full length mirror on the wall. "Take a look beautiful."

Tabitha worked her jaw a little, having clenched her teeth together while Chuck was working on her and pushed her blonde hair out of her face. Taking the hand mirror, she hopped off the table and walked over to the full length mirror, turning around to stand with her back to the wall. Holding up the mirror to see over her shoulder, Tabitha's smile widened and she nodded her approval.

"Chuck, your art skills should never be questioned. You did a bitchin' job on my Nargis, that's what I'm calling him." Tabitha said with another smile. "Lyssa you're up my dear."

Lyssa pulled off her jacket and hopped up onto the table. She tugged her tanktop down a little and tapped the area just under her collar bone. "Right here Chuck."

He chuckled and transferred the image to her skin and settled in to start the tattoo. Lyssa hummed a little as the needle bit in but she lay passive on the table while he worked. It took him a little under two hours and when he wiped the residual ink away Tabitha saw the bird in flight with its beautiful markings and the word inked in graceful lines on Lyssa's skin. She stood up and paid Chuck who kissed her cheek and handed them both tubes of lotion. "Keep them clean and use the lotion sparingly."

"For 7 to 10 days." Lyssa finished. "Thanks Chuck."

She looked at Tabitha. "We need to go pick up Chow."

Nodding her head and checking her phone, Tabitha rubbed her newly tattooed shoulder and looked over at Lyssa for a moment.

"I'll talk to Sergeant Digger about getting the truck if you'll make sure Tendo has their rooms taken care of."


	7. Chapter 7

Tabitha scrolled down her phone and found Digger's number. She hit the call button and put the phone to her ear so she could talk to him. It was convenient because there were times they needed to get a vehicle and sneak out without telling Marshall Hansen.

"Yo girl. I heard you'd be needing a convoy." Digger said when he answered the phone.

"Well if you could put a party together I'd appreciate it... We'd take Lady Bird out, but I don't think Marshal Hansen would like that too much and the last thing I need is Lyssa blowing chunks in the Zero Grav chamber again." Tabitha said, pushing some stray strands of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. "Can' you do it for us or not?"

"Darlin' I already got the cars and drivers on standby." Digger replied. "Got your favorite jeep waiting on ya."

"Aw, you're amazing Digger and my hero." Tabitha replied, smiling a little. "We'll be there in five minutes, be ready to pass off the keys when we get there. See you soon."

Hanging up the phone she turned to Lyssa and gave her the thumbs up before pocketing her phone and stepping out again.

"We're all set here, did Tendo get the prep work done on the guest quarters?"

Lyssa was tucking her phone into her pocket. "Yeah, they won't be up to what he's used to but the rooms are ready."

She started towards the garage with a spring in her step. "Awesome, Digger has our trucks ready for us and we can be off as soon we get there." Tabitha replied, matching her pace and within five minutes they were in the hanger and picking up their vehicles.

She felt good, leaving the base with several trucks following behind them. It took them about thirty minutes to get to Hannibal Chow's compound and they got out to enter alone. Tabitha told the other drivers to stay where they were and they would be back momentarily for them to help load the trucks.

"Let's make this quick Lyssa, dinner and showers are calling our names."

Lyssa smirked. "Just be careful washing that new tattoo for a few days. Don't scrub or you'll break the ink."

One of Hannibal's people opened the door to let them in and a line of people began carting crates out to the vehicles. They walked into Hannibals study to find him sorting through books on the desk. "Hey Hannibal, our favorite playmate and supplier, do you need some help with anything?" Tabitha asked, stretching her arms out over her head and popping her joints. "We'll get this place locked down if you'd tell us what you'd like us to do."

He gave them an uncharacteristically warm smile and set the stack of books on the desk. "You know, I never thought we'd all go out like this. Run off our own planet."

Raising an eyebrow slightly at him, Tabitha shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

"The human race will do anything and everything it can to survive. We've lost this paradise so now we'll do what we have to find a new place." She said, leaning against his desk and looking at the books he had just placed there.

"Don't bother with those. I packed all the important stuff." He picked up a well worn copy of Treasure Island running fingers over the spine before setting it back down.

One of the attendants came in and motioned to Hannibal. He stalked over and spoke in low tones for a few minutes. "We're all set ladies. By the way Tabby Cat, I like the new ink."

Tabitha looked over her shoulder at him and smiled a little.

"Thanks, Lyssa and I got them as a last hurrah from this planet." She replied, before picking up the book and handing it back to Hannibal. "This is a keeper too. Your accommodations have been prepared and I'll make sure Cookie, our head chef is pulling together an interesting meal for all of us... I pulled a few strings. Oh I have a surprise for you Hannibal, something I know you'll like."

He raised an eyebrow and looked over at Lyssa who was reviewing the cargo manifest, she shrugged. "Tabby likes surprises, I don't even know what she's got up her sleeves."

Giggling quietly, Tabitha looped her arm through Hannibal's as if he was escorting her to a formal dinner party and gave him her most charming smile, making her blue eyes sparkle with mischief.

"Oh don't look so worried Hannibal, it's not dangerous and we'll all enjoy it." She replied, nudging him toward the door. "I've been saving them for a special occasion and now seems a good a time as any. Come on Lyssa, if the trucks are all packed them we need to leave or else Cookie won't be able to save us anything to eat."

Lyssa gave a distracted wave. "You guys go ahead, I'm gonna make sure everything is done here, it'll take at least an hour more. I'll ride in with one of the truck crews." She stalked off yelling for one of Chows people to explain something on the manifest.

Hannibal watched her go and shook his head. "Though she be tiny, she is fierce." He said softly.

"This is nothing compared to the poor saps who woke her up before 10 a.m. and before she had her first cup of caffeinated tea or a coke... she was certainly scary then." Tabitha laughed with a smile. "Don't be too long Lyssa."

Together Hannibal and Tabitha left and walked to her vehicle, buckling up and driving off to head back to the base.

"With dinner, we can break into one of my cases of libations and open a bottle of twelve year old Scotch."

"Where did you get twelve year scotch?" Hannibal asked leaning back and grinning at her, his sunglasses glinting in the afternoon light.

"Oh I bought a few cases a long time ago while I was on a shopping spree. I couldn't resist and it cost me a pretty penny, but hey, when you're a Pilot you can afford a lot of pretty things. I would like to give you a few bottles to have... just a little something to remember us by while you're up in space."

She smiled and within thirty minutes their convoy was pulling into the base area and Tabitha directed the other trucks to park themselves to the far right of the hanger and kill the engines. Base workers would help load everything into the shuttles for Hannibal when the rest of the trucks were ready to go too. But for now they could park off to the right where they would be out of the way. Leading Hannibal into the base with her arm looped in his, Tabitha pointed out this and that to him before bringing him and his people to their temporary living quarters before allowing them to get comfortable. She promised that she would return within the hour and went to the mess hall to have a few words with Cookie, then left to grab a steaming hot shower. She returned to her's and Lyssa's room and quickly changed into a cute pair of hip-hugger pants, threaded a braided cord through the belt loops of her pants, and pulled on a shirt that fit snugly across her chest and flared out from her waist down, even the sleeve portions passed her elbows flared out nicely.

She zipped up her thick heeled boots and ran a brush through her hair. It dried quickly while she walked back to Hannibal's quarters with a bottle of Scotch in her hand. Heads turned to look at her while she walked and others stopped to stare, but she didn't even glance their way and knocked on the door. She smiled when he opened the door and complimented her on her attire and he too took the time to spruce up a bit and took her arm. Tabitha led him to the most private place she knew and Cookie brought in their dinner. Roast beef, potatoes, greens and Hawaiian rolls with butter, all of it smelled amazing and Cookie brought forth two glasses with a few ice cubes in each glass. Breaking the seal on the bottle she poured half a glass for them both, stood up and proposed a toast to their health and happiness. Clinking of glass a moment later, a swallow of the alcohol and they dined with conversation a plenty and many laughs.

Lyssa didn't make an appearance at dinner but no one was very concerned about that except maybe Tabitha but with good food and great booze she wasn't really very concerned either. Hannibal and his crew retired to their quarters well after 1am and Tabitha went to look for Lyssa and she was a little surprised to see Lyssa in the locker room by herself.

Tilting her head to the side, Tabitha studied Lyssa for a moment, arms crossed under her chest. Clearing her throat, she stepped further into the locker room and crossed the floor to her.

"Lyssa are you alright? We missed you at dinner." She asked, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Lyssa looked up from what she was doing in the locker. She had all their belongings organized and sorted into neat rows but her fingers were lingering on the journal she'd been keeping and her eyes were red rimmed, she cleared her throat and looked down at the satchels. "I was making sure everything was packed up, I even got our money exchanged for some gold coins since gold is valuable no matter where you go… which made me think about Middle Earth…" She took a shaky breath. "Which made me think about Greece."

Tabitha noted her puffy cheeks and flushed features. She closed the remaining space between them and wrapped her arms around her, holding onto her tightly and staying like that for a few moments until they could take a few breaths and get all their emotions under control. She took a small step back and used her thumb to wipe away a stray tear before handing her a tissue.

"I know sweetheart, you don't have to say anything until you're ready. My heart goes out to you and Iolaus too, but we're strong and we will find them again." She whispered quietly. "It looks like you have everything covered here... that's something that I've been thinking about. Do you think that the money that we have in our bags will translate over to new currency in the next place we go?"

She shook her head and cleared her throat. "No, thats why I had a large sum of it exchanged for gold coins since that's valuable everywhere." She tapped a neat double row of 30 film canisters lined up on the shelf. "Each of these little canisters has 10 coins each, each coin is 2 troy ounces, about 5 grand each." She started packing the satchels portioning everything evenly in case they got separated again. "I think we're coming up on the end here so we need to start keeping the satchels with us."

"Sure thing, but it may look a bit awkward carrying the satchel around. But it's better to start now because I think you're right, I've been getting a feeling that we're just about done here too." She said, pushing some hair out of her face and nodding. "Let's pack it all in and get some rest, yes?"

"It's not terribly awkward really, we're all leaving the planet in a few days, having our stuff ready to go at a moments notice makes sense." Lyssa replied and closed the satchels handing the blue on to Tabitha.

Taking it and shrugging her shoulders while nodding, Tabitha tried to stifle a yawn behind her hand but failed miserably. It did make sense and she took her satchel, looping the strap over her shoulder.

"Come on, you should eat some dinner before it's too late and you go to bed hungry. Here..." She said with a small smile, handing her some dinner on a plate wrapped up in plastic wrap. "Let's get to our room and rest, we need some sleep."

Lyssa took the plate and smiled following Tabitha to their room.


	8. Chapter 8

**And this is the last chapter. Like I said, short but hopefully fun. We had a blast writing it, I don't know how many times we rewatched Pacific Rim while we wrote this. Too many I guess. One you finish reading this one stay tune for the next Foot Falls Story set in the Sherlock Universe! Foot Falls: 221C. As always Reviewers get Good Karma and Kitten Kisses!**

The Raiju alarm blared to life at 6am waking Tabitha and Lyssa. At the same time someone started pounding on their door as Lyssa rolled out of the bunk and yanked it open. Tendo was leaning on the door frame his face ashen a large gray crate at his feet. "They're making a run on the Platform."

"Fuck!" Tabitha growled, having flung off the sheets to her bunk and not caring if Tendo saw her underwear from under her long night shirt or not and grabbed her skin suit from the back of the chair at their desk. "What's in the crate Tendo and speak quickly, I don't think we have much time."

Stuffing her legs into the pants and rolling it up over her body until she could take off her night shirt and fit her arms in the arm holes and zipped it up with a cord like a surfer would on a wet suit. She quickly pulled her hair up into ponytail and grabbed at her satchel.

"Hard drives." Tendo replied and ran after Lyssa and Tabitha as they ran to the locker room to get into their suits. "Marshall Hansen says we have to launch as soon as we reach the platform. Chow and his crew and all the supplies left for the platform at 4am. Once everyone on base gets to the Platform we're launching."

Lyssa was bolting pieces of armor onto Tabitha while he spoke. "How many Raiju?" She asked.

"Too many." He replied handing her pieces of armor.

Other pilots were bolting into their armor while they spoke and within 15 minutes they were all jogging to the Cockpit elevators. After Tabitha helped Lyssa into her armor too they jogged to the elevators and crammed their helmets on and prepared to be dropped onto the Jaeger's shoulders. They were secured, the normal procedures for the start up routine was completed, and they were secured to their harnesses.

"Let's get this show on the road then Lyssa." Tabitha said, flipping a few more switches and listening to Lady Bird roar into life. "What do you think is the best course of action is here? I think keeping them away from the shuttles as they launch would be best first and then fend them off from the platform."

She just hoped that they were going to be successful and everyone could make it to space without losing anyone.

"All of the Jaegers are being deployed to guard the last ships headed to the Platform. Once we're at the Platform the Platforms defenses will activate giving everyone time to get aboard including the Jaegers." Tendo said through the comms.

"I just hope that will be enough." Tabitha replied quietly, glancing over at Lyssa. "How long do you think the defenses will hold Lyssa?"

Lyssa muted the comms as the elevator to the surface carried them inside Lady Bird upwards. "Not long enough Tracey. Not long enough."

"Tracey and Artemis... defending the world to the bitter end." Tracey said with a smile and a shake of her head. "I hope that we at least go out with a bang. It's a good thing that we grabbed our satchels I guess, lets tear these bastards apart and be done with it."

The last two ships full of survivor bound for the platform were throwing caution to the wind and sailing full tilt towards the Platform. Tracey and Artemis could see the telltale ripples of the Raiju swimming beneath the surface trying to intercept the ships. The remaining Jaegers were ranged out in a line between the Raiju and the ships. "You see it too don't you Lyssa, lets go to work before that thing gets the ship."

Moving their Jaeger forward, Tabitha and Lyssa worked their way quickly to the Raiju and whipped out their wickedly curved blade as they went. They grabbed the trailing Raiju by the tail they plunged the blade into it's thick skull when it broke the surface to turn and attack them in return. Continuing to use their scanners to survey for other Raijus, they stayed alert and dispatched any other Raiju that got close to the platform. The battle raged on for what felt like hours, one by one Jaegers began to fall leaving holes in the ragged line. The last ship had docked and people were frantically racing to the waiting shuttles which were already starting their countdown. A Raiju burst out of the water and spread four arms out wide, flaps of skin spreading like hideous wings as it made a soaring eap at the platform only to be torn apart by gunfire from the Platform defenses. Tendos voice crackled through the comms. "We're almost done loading but the Raiju are coming too fast."

Tabitha eyed her scanners, wishing she could hide the sweat from her forehead, but not being able to. She and Lyssa had killed half a dozen Raiju before the platform defenses kicked it into high gear and she was already starting to feel the burn.

"What are we going to do Lyssa? We're running out of options." Tabitha said worry in her tone now. "We might have to go out with a bang after all."

Lyssa stared at the scanners and sighed, she flipped all the comm switches and started speaking. "All Jaeger Pilots listen, we are not going to make the shuttles. I know it, you know it. We have one chance, humanity has one chance, we need to give them that chance. Tendo, Marshal Hansen, I know you can hear me. Launch the fucking shuttles. We'll keep them busy."

There was silence for a moment then one by one the other Jaeger pilots agreed. Marshal Hansen came on the comms. "You're the best of the best, every one of you. You've served humanity with honor and pride. You will be remembered." The comm went dead and there was a roar as the shuttle's thrusters started.

Lyssa tuned the comm back to the Jaegers pilots. "Self destruct in t-minus 30 seconds. Lets take as many of these fuckers with us as possible."

Tabitha let out a sigh and then her facial features turned to one of a smirk. She looked at Lyssa and started laughing.

"Hey Bazian! I wish we could have gone on that date you promised me when Lyssa beat Marshall Hansen a few days ago." She laughed, shaking her head. "Oh well, perhaps another time... in another life."

The russian laughed. "In another life beautiful."

The Raiju seemed oblivious to their impending doom and attacked en masse. Lyssa and Tabitha were glad they'd stayed in their harnesses as a huge Raiju dragged them down under the water with the sound of alarms screaming in through the cockpit. Another Raiju grabbed them and another as the digital numbers counted down, Lyssa reached over and grabbed Tabitha's hand as the number reached 1. The world went white around them as Lady Bird crumpled under the combined weight of the Raiju, Artemis sucked in a deep breath wondering if it hurt to die when the Voice filled the cockpit. She laughed in relief. "You have done well but your task is not yet done." The words repeated in an echoing refrain.


End file.
